The New Patron Saints And Angels
by A.V Storm
Summary: When Pitch Black reunites with the estranged and imprisoned Guardian of Time to locate the infamous Snow Queen for personal gain, the guardians find themselves stretched through time and space to try and stop his malignant plans. Meanwhile, Jack learns that the queen herself holds several keys to his past that were lost when he became a guardian. Jelsa. Jack/Elsa. (sequel)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**  
Well, hello. You all asked and I guess I just can't quit. So here's a second part to Summer Shudder after listening to copious amounts of Depeche Mode to get me in the mood.

If you haven't read Summer Shudder or don't care to do so, here's a synopsis: Jack lived in Arendelle. He and Elsa were friends for a week before her coronation/the great freeze, but Jack died underneath a pond of ice just like he did in RotG. All that hooplah. Elsa was sad but now she isn't sorta.

With that being said, this isn't going to be much like Summer Shudder whatsoever. It'll have a lot more character complexities including this narcissistic original character that I've decided to create for fun times, which is something that I'm normally against, but bear with me. I promise he won't be a Mary Sue, if that's any consolation; I'll try not to make him too cheesy or overdone. There will be a lot of Pitch, maybe a lot of violence, and a lot of darkness and destruction. Yayyyy.

Of course, if you don't like Jelsa, you probably shouldn't read the fic. But if you do, then welcome; like always, I hope this isn't an awful mess. Just let me write my Jelsa, a'ight?

The thing I love about the idea of a Rise of the Guardians/Frozen crossover is there is SO MUCH TO DO. I have a million ideas whirling around in my head at this concept that I don't even know where to begin.

I might not be updating as often because this fic is going to require a lot more detail and attention than what Summer Shudder did. I'll try though, to the best of my writing abilities that I hopefully have an inkling of.

With that, let the story begin.

- A.V. Storm

P.S.  
x Cheetah x, I love you. Your reviews are a treasure. 

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter I_

* * *

Within a chamber that had been assembled centuries ago underneath the depths of the wintery North Pole, the Guardian of Time had been locked away. The dungeon was small, encased with a single cellar of wire-hot bars to prevent his escape, along with invisible lines of power that each of the guardians had provided to keep him there. The foolhardy choices that he had once made to join Pitch Black had been a minor succession four hundred years before his imprisonment by the guardians and the Man in the Moon, only promised release when his heart was truly revoked of the darkness that had consumed his spirit. But yet, the day hadn't come; the Guardian of Time remained day after day, sulking beneath North's headquarters, awaiting for any chance that someone might slip and allow him to escape his immortal incarceration.

Chronos was a slender man, keeping his youthful, boyish face despite his many years on the earth. He was fair-skinned underneath the dirt and grime that had consumed him over the generations of living in excrement. He was narrow nosed, silver-eyed, with fiery red hair grown overlong; wearing nothing more than rags over his pale flesh that had once been a handsome robe. Lying huddled on the cool floor of the dungeon, Chronos remained as resilient as ever. His eyes seared like fire up at the ceiling of the cell, resting one arm over the back of his head to listen to the silence emitting from every area around him. But today, it was different - there was something _off _about the sound of darkness dragging itself across the cellar floor, like a corpse...

Perking his head up, Chronos dragged his frail body off of the ground. His silver stare was wide, thin lips contorting into a smirk. A patch of black moved easily underneath the iron door outside of the cell, before slipping up into a conformed figure that belonged to an old friend of his. Inasmuch, Chronos began to laugh; leaning forward when Pitch Black finally turned to face him.

"Ah, Pitch darling, such a surprise to see you here..." Chronos drawled deeply. His voice was naturally low, bearing the accent of a Frenchman; his tongue moving like a serpent as he pressed his face as close as it could get to the bars without burning himself. Erstwhile, his eyes held a mixture of envy and craze for the Nightmare King; wondering if perhaps, the Boogeyman had finally returned to help him esape.

"It's been what, three or four hundred years...? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, after you so shrewdly abandoned me to my creator after our companionship?" He gestured up at the moon above where a single hole had been made for the Man in the Moon to keep an eye on him. It shown duller that night than it had in quite some time - making Chronos wonder if Pitch had chosen that night specifically for the purpose of aiding him. Whatever the Guardian of Time was thinking, however, was incorrect; Pitch made that evident by the gnarled, pointed smile that tore at his lips.

"Chronos, my dear friend..." The Nightmare King began, flickering his gaze up to meet the former guardian's filthy face. He purposefully ignored the last part of his sentence as he strolled in front of the dungeon where his former partner had been kept a prisoner by his own people, but likewise, Pitch was amused. "How are things, living as a prisoner of the guardians?"

His tone was cruel and taunting, but Chronos didn't seem to notice as his eyebrows soared up the span of his forehead at the chance to talk about himself for the first time in hundreds of years.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked. I'm starving, haven't eaten anything since the nineteenth century..." The Guardian of Time explained, sounding amused as he began pacing down the cell. "I used to pull my teeth out, see? So that our sweet Guardian of Memories would send her little hummingbird slaves here to take them..." He opened his mouth wide, enough for Pitch to examine the extracted molar teeth in the back of his mouth that had been forcefully broken out of his jaw. Sighing, Chronos rested himself against the back wall before turning to Pitch loftily. "I must say, they were a nice snack."

Pitch stared calculatively at the guardian, but made no further inclination to speak at the pitiful spirit before him. To his surprise, Chronos went on with the same sob story.

"But, eventually, Toothiana smartened up and realized that I was taking her little birds hostage just for a bite to eat..." He pouted, folding his arms across his chest. "It's a sad life, Boogeyman. Very sad."

"One can only imagine, Chronos. You have my sympathy." Pitch answered in a bland voice, placing his hands behind his back as he strolled in front of the prisoner. But the Guardian of Time's silver eyes lit up at the words, a smile resting firmly on his lips. He looked cocky, like he might have been given the upperhand of the conversation somehow.

"As you have mine." Chronos responded, pausing gently, before getting to what he was hinting at in a single breath - which came out as a puff of heat from the temperature that the North Pole provided. "I heard about what you did a year ago. North and his elves talk a little _too _much, about how you nearly succeeded in destroying the other guardians again - but one child managed to step in the way and defeat you once more. Not that surprising, really..."

The resonance of Chronos' voice was so eager to discuss Pitch's most recent failure that the Nightmare King stomped hard on the ground beneath in rage. A shudder of vicious shadows broke underneath him, sending their figures after Chronos, who blasted them away with a force of brilliant white. The Guardian of Time gave a high laugh that bounced off of the walls, echoing throughout the dungeon as he faced Pitch with an impish gleam resting on his features.

"So who's life is sadder, I wonder...? How many times has Man in the Moon defeated you, again?"

Pitch exhaled sharply, the tiniest of all smiles resting on his long-jawed mouth. Patience was not a virtue to the Nightmare King, but if he wanted his answers, then he would have to contain himself. _For now_.

"Ah, you heard about that?" Pitch began again, halting his pace. "Existence must be rough then; surely, if you're wretched enough to hear news from North's elves..."

"It's true, then? A child defeated you?" Chronos eyed him ecstatically, bearing a mischievous grin. His hands then wove together a stringet of white. It formed a scene over his palms, developing into a mold that resembled a certain white-haired young man bearing a shephard's staff. Pitch's pointed teeth bared together at the sight.

"Or was it that Jack Frost fellow? I haven't met him yet... But oh, I've _seen _him. Man in the Moon made quite the catch with that lad, didn't he? Word is that he is more powerful than you are, Boogeyman." The Guardian of Time looked up from the floating figurine of Jack Frost resting over his hand, glowering behind his simper. "Is that true?"

Pitch's eyes darkened somehow. His mouth jerked into a straight line, hands resting behind him as he looked hard at the guardian.

"It does not matter how many times I've failed in the past." His voice was slow, dripping with the depth of his promise. "I will not fail this time, mark my words."

"Oh?" Chronos' said it with a laugh attached to his voice. His palms smacked together, destroyed the scene of the small, dusty form of Jack Frost as he sauntered forward through the cell. His face inclined forward towards the Boogeyman beyond the bars of his confinement, tilting his head to the side as his inquiries continued. "So do tell me then, Pitch; what is your motivation for coming here? I hope it's to ensue your wrath and chaos... Otherwise I might be terribly disappointed." He stuck his lower lip out into a second pout to make emphasis.

But the Nighmare King had now endured enough of the guardian; he intended to get to the bottom of his investigation, ending on his foresight for arriving there in the North Pole in the first place.

"It's about the Snow Queen." Pitch concluded. A gnarled grin showing all of his teeth came to his mouth at once when Chronos' eyes widened. "I reckon you've heard of her."

"The Snow Queen?" The guardian repeated the words, pacing down his cell. He closed his eyes briefly, like he was fully envisioning her for the first time, as if it had been centuries since she had been a glimmer in his mind. But once his eyes were reopened, Chronos was chuckling. Again, his fingers began to morphing a second model, but this time the white strings made that of a young woman.

"Ah yes, the Queen of Arendelle..." Chronos continued, adding special details to the second figurine, including a long braid and a crown. "Rumor was that she had been born with a most extraordinary gift. Ice powers, as it were; made that snow castle out of her own hands, if you can believe it."

"I can believe it, I've heard the stories." Pitch's stare clung to the figure of the Snow Queen, watching intentedly, as if there was nothing else that he wanted more in the world. But eventually, his eyes trailed back up to the Guardian of Time, eager for more answers. "How powerful was she?"

"More powerful than you, isn't that what you want to hear?" The small figurine of the queen began to hover over Chronos' open hand. Pitch licked his lips, stare slowly trailing to look up at the prisoner again.

"No need to exaggerate now, my friend." He murmured suavely, tilting his head marginally as his mouth slowly parted. "What happened to her?"

The guardian's silver eyes lit up with enthusiasm, as if there was nothing else that he would rather be explaining at the moment.

"She disappeared, as it were... When Arendelle was diminished, very many years ago." His hand shut, taking the image of the Snow Queen with it; it obliterated into dust. "But that's where you come in, isn't it?"

Pitch sighed, becoming dangerously close to losing his patience entirely as his willowing black robe dragged from behind him when he began to tread away from the dungeon.

"My, you still haven't stopped speaking in endless riddles, have you, Chronos?"

"Do my ears deceive me?" The guardian chortled loudly, throwing up his head to laugh. "The great Nightmare King doesn't know what he did to Arendelle?" Finally, after a minute of howling, he finally looked up and narrowed his eyes on the Boogeyman.

"Oh right... That's because you haven't done it yet."

Pitch turned his head, shadows growing heavier over his gray face. But nothing stuck out throughout the deep depths of the dungeon more than his heinous smile and his eyes did.

"So then, you still have your powers? I would have thought your creator would have taken them back from you..." Now they were getting somewhere. The Guardian of Time was showing interest in his plots, and for now, that was all that mattered. If Pitch could go back to take the Snow Queen for his own, then there was likely little that the other guardians could do to stop him. What would they do, after all, if the whole world was sunk into the deepest despair of ice and dark...? Pitch was so close to his vengenace that he could have sank his teeth into it - desiring it more than he had ever before.

"Oh no, my creator was _so _merciful in allowing me to keep them with the hope that I might - ah, have a change of heart." Chronos stated softly, clearing his throat. "Fortunate for you, of course." A sly smile began to spread over his lips, teeth as white as ivory despite the damage that he had done to them just for the sake of devouring fairies. "How much were you willing to spare in order to go back in time again? I missed that bit..."

Pitch straightened out his posture, looking firmly at the guadian behind the iron bars.

"I will do nothing for you until I have the Snow Queen's power under my own." He told him promptly. But Chronos frowned, tilting his head up at where he could see the moon from the hole in his cellar. As if he was beginning to _doubt _what they could accomplish together... Yet, there was something in his expression that had changed. That he too was searching desperately for the greed of revenge that Pitch was offering him - even if their last encounter had ended at the sake of the guardian being imprisoned.

But eventually, Chronos angled his body back towards Pitch, raising his eyebrows as another inquiry was laid out flat before him.

"How do I know that you will uphold your end of the bargain?"

And then it was Pitch's turn to laugh, loud and cruelly as a rapacious grin came up to touch his eyes. Nothing filled the dungeon louder than his laughter did; hard and ruthless, as if the prospect was not at all simple to understand. Until finally, he grit his teeth together and shadows came all around him at an alarming speed, captivating the vicinity. His mouth opened, and he was looking at the Chronos with the eyes of carnage.

"Because when I come back, I will have ripped each of the uvulas out of those damn guardian's throats."

And Chronos, the Guardian of Time, no longer looked for convincing. Instead, his long fingers began fashioning a sphere. It was a cluster of silver and white; not much larger than a tennis ball. But once he'd finished designing the orb, he tossed it through the bars of the dungeon keeping him there for four centuries. Pitch barely caught it in time before it fell to the ground, but once he did, he knew that there was no more persuasion to be done. All that mattered now was finding the Snow Queen before any of the guardians or the Man in the Moon had anything to say about it.

"Done. There's your portal." The guardian spoke gruffly at first, a tender grin reappearing in its stead.

"Arendelle is all yours, Boogeyman."

* * *

HERE GO HELL COME, MY DEARS.

You're all cray for convincing me to do this.

Pitch, man. I love that guy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**:  
I am glad you guys are pleasedddd. I love writing villains so much it's not even funny. So thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows, I'm already feeling pumped even though this is much harder to write than Summer Shudder was. Maybe some day I will be a glorified Jelsa fanfic writer. ;)

HERE'S THE RED WEDDING.

Just kidding though, no senseless death. But there is a wedding.

(Not yet anyway.)

I have no underlings, Cheetah! You are my acquaintance. Everyone who reviews or likes my fanfiction is a friend of mine. ;) And yes, Chronos is supposed to be modeled (sorta) off of the God of Time. He'll get a few more details later as the story progresses since I have a lot of ideas for his little evil mind, but probably not an extraordinary amount since I don't want to give an original character too much attention if it detracts from the story.

* * *

_A New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter II_

* * *

_She was walking down a bleak and narrow corridor again, cracks rippling at the walls beside her into great gaps of ice. There was no control that she had over her body or being as she sank deeper into the hallway, unsure whether or not it ended, as it seemed to go on endlessly. It took her a moment to analyze that she was without footwear of any kind - her bare feet trekking against a plush, red surface rug that felt startlingly real. A drift of frozen wind triggered down her spine, making her feel like eyes were on her. Even though that in each direction that she turned to look, there was no one there. Only silence and the same never ending corridor, filled with a hallway of broken walls._

_But finally, there was a voice. It was masculine, resembling the late King of Arendelle._

_"Elsa, where are you going?"_

_The young woman stopped, turning her head back in the direction that the voice; once belonging to her father. But when she tried to call back in order to respond her mouth refused to open; staying shut no matter how hard she tried to flex her jaw. But she turned around regardless, seeking out the voice._

_"Come here, I want to show you something..."_

_Mindlessly, she followed, despite that there was a stream of consciousness telling her to stay away. Eventually, she grew fatigued from the route that never ceased. Her feet began to throb painfully from underneath her, aching for her to stop..._

_"Right here, darling. I'm right in here."_

_There the voice was, but from right behind her; inside of the wall that carried a trail of frost through the splinters of the wall. Blinking, she took a step back from the corridor until her arm was outstretched enough to place the palm of her hand firmly on the top of the jutted ice. A glaze of cold began to emit from her fingertips, easing up flat surface. She shuddered involuntarily, a breath of heat emitting out of her open mouth. Finally, after a minute of waiting, the surface was frozen solid, and when she finally moved her hand away, it collapsed. The pieces crumbled all around her, falling apart into a mass of wreckage. When she finally looked up to see what was there in her wake, it wasn't her father that stood there. Not even someone who resembled him in the slightest..._

_He was gray faced, hidden behind the stealth of the shadows. But she could make out his eyes and the point of his long chin, speaking musically to her. But the words that left his mouth were anything but as gentle as his voice sounded, making her throat tighten up with fear._

_"Is this it? Is this what you're capable of, your highness?"_

* * *

"Your majesty? Are you awake yet?"

Just when a surge of a deep slow panic began to consume her, Queen Elsa of Arendelle was waking up with a start. Her eyelids flew open at the sound of someone who had knocked firmly on the door of her bedchamber, awakening her from the sixth dream of the man in black that week. Her heart rattled deep and hard against her rib cage at first, looking around the room uncertainly, as if she had forgotten where she had fallen asleep the night before. But finally, she realized that it had been nothing more than an unsettling dream. It barely constituted as a nightmare, even if eerieness seared her from the inside out. Exhaling sharply, the young queen rubbed her tired eyes, nearly forgotting to respond to the voice beyond her door as the image of the man in her dream came back to her.

"Queen Elsa, is everything alright?"

"Yes." Elsa answered, picking up her shoulders up to rest her spine up against the headboard of the bed underneath her. She cleared her throat promptly to eliminate the grogginess out of her voice - or at least made the attempt to do so. "I'll be right out, Anton."

She slipped out of the warmth that her bed had provided her, sighing as she adjusted her white-blonde hair that had tied into a tangled mess overnight. For a moment, she had nearly forgotten that it was a very important and prominent day for her sister as her mind had been too focused on the figure from her dream that had been visiting her every evening. The dreams always ended before she could see his face, but the pointed teeth in his smile and golden-gray eyes still lingered fluently in her imagination. But that was all it was to Elsa - a part of her imagination, perhaps at the wearied thought that she was going to be alone in the castle for two weeks after Anna's wedding ceremony. With the exception of the coming and going Olaf... But even he didn't make quite the company that she had grown accustomed to since her first year as the designated queen of Arendelle.

It was Anton's chuckle from outside of the room breaking her thoughts off again, causing her to angle her figure adorning a night gown towards the door when he finally spoke up again.

"Well, Princess Anna requests that you hurry, your majesty." The servant advised, sounding genuinely amused despite his normally stern voice. "She says her bed hair is in desperate need of your assistance and asks that you come as quickly as you can..."

Elsa released a breath of a laugh, imagining what might await her when she found her sister. Thankfully, having bad bed hair wasn't an inherited trait, otherwise she might have chopped her own hair into bits long ago.

"Tell her I'll be there as soon as I'm ready and not to do any more damage until I get there." Elsa remarked softly, smirking at the sound of her own words when she imagined what Anna's reaction would be to them.

"As you wish, your highness."

The sound of Anton's heavy footsteps against the wooden floorboards fell away from the door, indicating that he had left to send the message to the betrothed princess. Which left Elsa all alone again as she began to attire herself for the day and the celebration in just a few hours' time. Her eyelids felt weighed down, exhaustion pouring through her senses while she struggled to stay awake. In just the last year since the day of her coronation, life had changed optimistically for the queen. From her self-exposed exile, the exposure of her powers, the loss of Jack Overland, and watching while Anna grew to love Kristoff, life thereafter had clicked into place - she no longer felt alone as she once had. But for some reason, the dreams she had been having reminded her fully of when she had been a child who had feared herself and the publicity of her powers.

Regardless of her own thoughts, Elsa straightened herself out in the mirror of her bedroom, looking back at her reflection with bravery in her azure eyes. Today was about her sister, and she was not about to risk her own hesitation to ruin what could possibly be the best day of her life. Unpleasant dreams or not, Elsa planned to make the best of it - especially if it was on the sake of Anna's happiness.

After her long hair was pulled up and she was fitted in a blue and white gown that Anna had picked out for her wedding ceremony specifically, Elsa sauntered out of her bedchamber and down the corridor. Ever since the stress of her powers had been lifted, she had grown adapted to wearing her own icy fabrics, but since summer had returned, Elsa had no choice but to return to the clothing residing in her wardrobe. She paused curiously at the sight of Anna's bedroom door shut, but knocked upon request. There was a loud voice that told her to come inside, but it didn't belong to the princess. Elsa's thin eyebrows trailed up her forehead in confusion, reaching for the door handle to enter. She blinked at the sight of Anna, sitting in the middle of the room on a wooden stool, where their women staff members were working fervently on her make up, nails, and dramatic mass of hair.

Elsa had to press the back of her hand against her lips to keep from laughing. Anna looked particularly displeased at being handled as she was, but her blue eyes lit up when she saw that Elsa had finally arrived. Her wedding dress was long, white, and beautiful, undoubtedly befitting the princess about to be married. Elsa, however, didn't have much time to appreciate the details before Anna was gesturing towards the door with her hands. She looked up at each of the staff members - one of them being Hilda, their head maid - and with a desperate voice, called out for each of them to leave.

"Alright! Elsa is here now, she can finish the rest..."

The women looked shocked, as if Anna was asking them to do something that they were truly incapable of.

"Are you sure, princess...? We still need to find the perfect shoes to go with your dress - " One of them attempted to interject lamely, but Anna must have been anticipating it, judging on how quickly she jumped to cut her off.

"Why don't you all go and help Anton downstairs? I think he was looking to rearrange the chairs in the chapel."

Whether or not Anton actually needed help, Elsa would never know. They all cast each other lofty expressions, like it might be the death of them that they could no longer continue dressing the princess up for her wedding. Elsa's eyebrows raised again, meeting Anna's stare momentarily. A pause of silence came between everyone in the room before Hilda was finally the one to speak up. She rearranged the round spectacles she wore on her thin nose, appearing bitter that she was being shooed away as well. But in the end, she finally gave in to Anna's request.

"Well come on now, girls. Let's go downstairs and leave the queen and the princess alone." Her voice was as cutting as ever while her tall figure strobed towards the door. A few of the girls made little huffs of disappointment, but they followed suite shortly after without complaint. And once the door had closed again, Elsa peered back at Anna with an encouraging yet playful smile.

"Well, terrible hair or not, you still look beautiful, Anna." Elsa greeted her with a tease, reaching around Anna's vanity to find the hairbrush that had been left behind by one of the attendants. Surprisingly, Anna didn't make the effort to tease her in return - instead, the younger women only shot her a look of pure torture, as if she'd had endured the worst that morning.

"Oh Elsa, I'm so glad you're here..." Anna exhaled, pressing her face into her hand while shaking her head. "Hilda insisted that she did my hair for me, but I told her that I wanted you instead. That didn't make her very happy with me..."

"Ah, well... I am the only one who knows the mysteries of your chaotic strawberry blonde tresses." Elsa joked, coming around Anna's station on the stool to begin skimming through Anna's hair gently with the hairbrush in hand. The response was answered instantly by Anna, who released a light scoff between her fit of chuckles.

"You look beautiful too." Anna looked back at her, smiling warmly. But then the teasing came from her end, sounding playful and energetic all at once. "Is it so upsetting wearing _real _clothes for once?"

"Excuse me? _Real _clothes?" Elsa asked breathlessly, hiding her laugh behind the back of her hand again. "My ice gowns are as real as they come, Anna. I can make you one yourself, if you'd like..."

"Noooo... Cold and I don't mesh well together, but thank you _so _much for the offer..."

Elsa smiled fondly, working her fingers underneath Anna's hair until the tangles were finally smoothed down. She had just begun to braid the back of her hair, hands moving cleverly to design the hairstyle that she and Anna had discussed weeks before the wedding had been announced. But there must have been something about her expression that was off, or the slightly different shade underneath her eyes that Anna had seen to warrant the right to ask her next question.

"Are you okay? You've seemed a little shaken up these past few days..." Anna's inquiry caught Elsa off guard, causing the queen to take a step back. She looked up at her reflection in the mirror of the vanity, noticing potently that she did look more exhausted than usual... But was that enough for Anna to insist that something was different?

"It's nothing." Elsa answered, clearing her throat as her fingers and stare returned to the shape of Anna's strawberry blonde hair. She exhaled sharply, pursing her lips in concentration. "I just haven't been sleeping this week, that's all."

"Are you sure?" Anna's voice was cautious now, looking up at Elsa in the mirror as if she suspected that she wasn't telling the truth. She paused, however; sounding tentative before asking another question. "I know it's almost been a year since - "

And at that, Elsa was quick to shut her observations down without a second of hesitation. Today was not a day that she wanted to be reminded that it had been nearly twelve months exactly since Arendelle's brief escapade of winter in the middle of July, marking the day when Jack Overland had passed away, and she vowed to keep it that way.

"I'm fine, Anna. Don't worry about me." Elsa murmured, feeling her eyes narrow some. The words felt more or less falsified, but she was afraid of she delved her thoughts on the late Jack to Anna, that they wouldn't stop. So instead, the young woman continued to weave Anna's soft hair between her fingers, holding her hand out promptly for her sister to hand her a pin.

"Let's talk about you instead. You're getting married, aren't you excited?"

The change of topic hadn't at all been a discreet one, but Anna had taken the bait. A frown pressed on her lips in thought as she clasped her hands in front of her, looking away from the mirror and in favor of the floor.

"I guess..." Anna muttered softly. And again, Elsa's eyebrows lifted.

"You guess?" Elsa asked, sounding a little incredulous. Ever since Kristoff had proposed, Anna had been more than excited to agree to be his wife. This was the first time her sister had made any effort to show uncertainty.

"I'm nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

"I dunno. Pre-wedding jitters, I guess..." Anna sighed deeply, her blue-eyed stare finally trailing up the span of the mirror to look up at Elsa's reflection again. "I mean, what if we're not ready?"

But the question only caused Elsa to laugh again, hiding her mouth behind her wrist as she raised it up to fetch another pin for Anna's hair.

"This is coming from _you_? A year ago, you were willing to marry Hans after a little less than an hour..."

"Yeah, I know. I can't believe I almost did that..." Anna's worried tone finally made Elsa realize that what her sister needed right now was _advice_. Their parents were no longer there to reassure them of potential life decisions, which was a shame, because Elsa could have easily imagined what their mother would have done in this situation. A slight frown jerked at the young queen's lips at the powerful image that came to her mind, wishing that her mother could be there on a day that was so crucial for Anna's future. But that was all it was - an image. All that Anna had to listen to was her older sister's advice - and Elsa made the mental pledge to say whatever she could to make her feel better.

"Don't worry about it, it's in the past now." Elsa reminded her tenderly, successfully pulling up Anna's hair. "And besides, if mother and father were here, I know they'd love Kristoff just as much as you do. So don't doubt yourself." She looked at Anna's reflection in the mirror, pleased to see that her sister had cracked the smallest of smiles, even if it was somber. Inasmuch, Elsa continued, hoping to make the day smoother somehow as she went on.

"I'm proud of you, Anna. And you can make it through today, I know you can. You've been waiting for this your entire life, remember?"

After a heavy silence, the princess looked up to cast Elsa an honest grin. The recommendation of encouragement must have done some good, because Anna seemed to glow after that behind the mirror when Elsa began to finalize the last few movements of tracking her hair into place. When she finished, she moved aside from the stool and waited for Anna to step off of it. When she finally did, Elsa had been anticipating that her sister would show instant appreciation for the way her hair had been styled. But instead, Anna turned and encased Elsa in a tight embrace.

"Thanks, Elsa. You're the best."

* * *

PRINCESS/QUEEN FEELS.

More Pitch to come, ohoho.

And if there are any typos, I apologize, I didn't have time to proofread before work. But I'll try and update tonight or tomorrow...!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:**  
Oh my God, you guys. I have so many ideas that I want to share with you all at once. I'm super excited to be writing this, way more than I thought I would be originally. Seriously, I wanted to make Summer Shudder a three-shot fanfiction and that was it. So like always, your reviews, favorites, and follows are HIGHLY appreciated to this storm. Thank you immensely for all of the support and the kind words that have been given and everyone who returned to read. I cannot express my gratitude enough. I'd name you all specifically but it'd take too long. Love youuu.

A few things, real quick, just in case you're confused.

1. Pitch has gone back in time a year after Jack's death in Arendelle/the events in Frozen.

2. Jack is obviously living in the present a year after the events of RotG, but we'll get to him soon.

Also, my promise is that Jelsa will actually be a thing in this fic rather than having either of them die unexpectedly. Although I don't promise that it'll be all fluffy puppies and kittens and Jack and Elsa will be throwing ice babies around in their loooove. With Pitch in the pitchture (hehehe puns), there's going to be a lot of darkness and action. I already have an ending in mind for this fic, but I don't want to give it away yet. There will still be a lot of loss and pain, because... I'm a Game of Thrones fan. Pobre Jelsa.

And are hashtags a thing now with my reviewers...? I dig it.

#Istilldon'twantJacktodie  
#I'msorrythatPitchisabitch,Elsa  
#TacoBell  
#Imissyou,RobbStark

And I would like to say an apology to the new Jelsa shipper who read Summer Shudder as her first Jelsa fanfic. If you ever see this young lady, let me be the first to say that I am SO sorry...! I desperately wanted to let you know that it was going to end awful and that maybe you should have gone with something that ended a little more happily ever after like Arialene's Frostbitten series. UFheufhuhef... I'll never be able to write anything up to that caliber.

Sorry for this really long note. Wow. Shut up, Storm.

* * *

_A New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter III_

* * *

The ceremony of Princess Anna's marriage was a success, much to Elsa's relief, who had secretly grown weary that there would be another relapse of last year's events that had been upheld at her own coronation ceremony. But luckily, when the people of Arendelle started piling into the castle chapel, Elsa felt relieved that she was no longer in the spotlight on the podium. She stood firmly with her hands clasped in front of her, azure eyes observing as the same men, women, and children from last year attended the affair, slipping between the seats while offering hushed murmurs. And for once, Elsa found herself relaxing while she waited for the commemoration to begin, smiling and waving at a few children who were leaning up against the seats in the chapel trying to catch her attention.

The muscles in her shoulders eased up, nearly breaking into a frenzy of laughter at the sight of Sven and Olaf placing themselves primitively at the front of the service, both of them beaming that they had caught her attention. When Kristoff finally arrived through the back door of the rostrum, slipping past her to greet the priest, Elsa had to double take at the sight of the burly man wearing an impeccable black frock coat which aligned with a suit appropriate for the groom that he was. He hardly looked like himself, giving Elsa the perfect excuse to tease him when he finally turned to look at her as he positioned himself in front of the aisle. But just as expected, Kristoff looked just as nervous as Anna had earlier that afternoon. His skin was paler than normal when he raised a single blonde eyebrow in Elsa's direction, as if waiting for what she had to say.

"Well look at you. I would never guess you were an ice harvester at all." Elsa smiled, pretending to look him over with a bat of her eyelashes. Kristoff's cheeks instantly flushed, turning his head away from the young queen as he rested his hands together in front of him.

"Thanks, I guess..." Kristoff murmured, sounding disheartened at the prospect that he was being teased about his attire. He pulled at the fine collar of his shirt, giving it a little tug while clearing his throat. Finally, his amber eyes turned to give her a little playful banter of his own in return.

"And what about you? No more ice dresses?" He asked, the corners of his lips lifting into a smirk.

"Anna chose this one." Elsa responded, making the effort to shrug her shoulders. "As her maid of honor, I thought I should oblige."

"Ahh, well..." He reached up to scratch his recently combed hair, shooting her a little glance over his shoulder. "You look nice, Elsa."

"Thank you." Elsa responded, genuinely touched by his kind nature, since she knew that it typically wasn't his specialty to make compliments. She knew that Anna making her grand entrance through the chapel was about to begin at any given moment, seeing as how nervous Kristoff was looking as the seconds ticked. And in an effort to keep his mind off of the pessimistic possibilities of the wedding, Elsa distracted him again.

"Speaking of which... Isn't your best man supposed to be up here?"

"What?" Kristoff asked, sounding incredulous. Elsa gestured towards Sven and Olaf, still front and center as they beamed through the chapel.

"What, Sven? No...! I mean, how would we even get him all dressed up for something like this?" The ice harvester demanded at once, before turning back to find that Elsa was hiding her mouth behind the back of her hand to conceal her laughter. "Wait, you weren't being serious, were you...?"

Elsa opened her mouth to respond, but was interjected by the sound of the choir up above the podium in the chapel, signaling that the wedding was beginning then and there. And with a little sigh, the young queen held her posture firm and steady while she awaited the appearance of her younger sister to walk through the grand door entrance and down the aisle to meet Kristoff. It was a moment that she could recall Anna dreaming of since they had been small - and there was not a second that she wanted to miss of it.

* * *

A superb dinner was served in the dining room of the castle when the ceremony had ended. And once more, Elsa felt more than satisfied that their royal guests were more interested in engaging in a conversation with Anna and Kristoff than they were with her. Of course, Elsa was polite and as regal as she could be in such a social setting that she had still not grown used to. Subsequently, she made casual smalltalk with the alcoholic Prince of Prussia, Ensel; who stared more at her figure than he had her eyes in conversation. But he made for partial company. Mostly, Elsa allowed him to do most of the talking, which included endless stories about his family that sounded fictional. But regardless, Ensel worked as a pleasant disguise for any other younger man who attempted to steal a conversation with her, despite that the alcoholic stench on the prince's breath was becoming unbearable throughout the duration of the dinner party.

Finally, when that section of the wedding was over, Elsa was allowed to disembark back into her bedchamber for a little less than an hour. But once the clock struck five, she was slipping down the grand staircase again and into the ballroom, where guests were being sorted through the foyer for a ball in order to celebrate the wedding of Arendelle's princess. The young queen exhaled softly upon an influx of recollection when she entered the familiar lounge, filled whole with celebratory decorations like it had been twelve months ago. She easily recalled that one moment when Jack Overland had somehow - on his own charismatic whims of appeal that Elsa could remember as clearly as if it were just yesterday - convinced her to dance with him.

* * *

_"Because I really wanted to ask you to dance with me_."

_"However will I live, Queen Elsa?! If you will not do me the honor of a single dance?! My heart is shattering as I speak!"_

_"So then, do me the honor of giving the old woman a dance."_

* * *

His words were still there, clinging fresh to her memories even after she tried to evade them when Kristoff and Anna's names were being announced loudly throughout the auditorium. Clearing her throat loudly, Elsa pushed the recollection aside as best as she could, shooting her sister a beaming smile when her name was called as well to join them. A toast was made for the newlyweds before a frenzy of eager guests came up to greet them, bowing and showing their respect upon their ovation. Elsa was more than pleased when Kristoff and Anna were finally given their first dance as husband and wife to an orchestrated composition, noting that Anna must have given her new husband dancing lessons before the ceremony... Otherwise he surely would have been trampling all over her feet.

Regardless, the queen stood aside to admire them as each guest did. She observed as her younger sister glowed in her wedding gown, appearing more or less like the happiest individual on the face of the planet. It was impossible for Elsa to keep her stare off of the couple for more than a few minutes, feeling as if there wasn't anything that could ruin that for them as they smiled back at each other while Kristoff led them through the dance floor. Finally, when the song ended, the audience erupted into an applause, Elsa amongst them. But her clapping was cut short, however; when her azure eyes had landed directly across the ballroom to find the small figure of a small, dark haired girl not more than eleven. She adorned a dark blue gown, staring absentmindedly within the herd of patrons.

But by then, Elsa was emerging through the crowd to approach the girl from behind.

"Pippa." Elsa called out to her softly, catching the girl's attention at once. Her little ringlets of ashy brown hair bounced when she turned around to face the queen aspiring to greet her, a grin stretching out across her face.

"Queen Elsa!"

Despite that the regal queen wasn't accustomed to embraces or physical affection of any kind, she did her best to return the warmth in Pippa's hug when she wrapped her arms around her middle. In some ways, it was almost as if Jack hadn't left her at all, even if the emptiness in her chest still remained from the bitter reality of loss. It was right there next to her heart, residing in the place where her parents had died.

"I'm glad you came." Elsa responded gently, looking down at Pippa with a fond smile when the girl pulled away to look up at her. It was always so surprising, how short she was in comparison... "How are you? How's your mother?"

Now that Elsa finally had time to look at Pippa fully in the face, however, she realized that something was off. And slowly, the smile that the queen had put on at the sight of her began to fade. There were deep shadows underneath her eyes, almost as vivid as a bruise could be. The sight startled Elsa at first, making her pause and blink, as if to ensure that she wasn't just imagining that they were there. But even the smile that tugged on Pippa's mouth wasn't half as vibrant as it normally was. And that caused the young queen to worry - just what was going on?

"We're good." Pippa insisted, despite that there was one note off in her voice that made Elsa believe that it couldn't be the entire truth. But the girl must have noticed when one of her eyebrows raised instinctively, as if backtracking to make up for it when she further reflected on the matter of her wellness. "A little lonely, but good."

"Lonely? I told you that you could come and see me whenever you wanted..." Elsa murmured softly. Both of her eyebrows raised in synchronization now, as a chill ruptured down the base of her spine. Intuitively, she brought herself down to Pippa's height, touching the girl warily against her forearms. She was conscious of the fact that there were goosebumps on her skin there - even if it could have been just from the fact that her hands were a few temperatures too naturally cold.

"Pippa, what's wrong? Are you ill?" Elsa asked, attempting to further inspect the girl. But any instincts that she'd had to be protective were cut short by Pippa tugging away, as if the last thing she wanted was for anyone to worry about her.

"N-no, it's not that." Pippa explained, her eyes averting in favor of the floor. Yet, her next sentence caused another flood of unease to flutter through Elsa's stomach. "I just haven't... I haven't been sleeping lately."

And that caught the young queen's attention immediately, causing a slight frost to brim over her fingertips before she could rush to control her emotions. Thankfully by then, Pippa had pulled away. Exhaling deeply, Elsa brushed the ice from her skin. Her gaze briefly wandered down to the floor, but she quickly caught up to Pippa's stare again when she opened her mouth to ask another question, attempting to sound purely inquisitive and curious when she did so.

"Why?"

It took Pippa a few calculated seconds to finally respond. But when she did, Elsa felt as if her heart had fallen into the middle of her stomach.

"Nightmares." Pippa sounded reluctant, as if it was the last thing she wanted to tell the Queen of Arendelle, of all people. But there must have been something in Elsa's stare that kept her clarifying the explanation.

"I keep having nightmares about..." But her voice fell into silence, as if she no longer wanted to explain what they entailed to, even if Elsa had a very good idea of what they could be about. And the thought was startling, enough to make her breath hitch up in her throat before she finally gained the audacity to ask more questions.

"What kind of nightmares?" She asked slowly. Pippa bit her lip, looking away again as if to decide what words she could use to describe them.

"The... Boogeyman." Pippa settled, her voice barely more than a murmur. But she quickly made the attempt to alter her expression, after seeing Elsa's concern. "But I'm not the only one, Queen Elsa... Everyone's been having them."

And that was more unsettling than ever. Elsa's stomach began to churn, recalling the flashes, bits, and pieces of her own nightmares that had been consuming her slumber for a week whole.

"What do you mean? _Everyone_?" When she finally spoke again, her voice was uneven; breaking on several notes as she looked up at Pippa with wide eyes. Pippa merely shrugged her shoulders, as if attempting to disregard the topic entirely. But that gesture did not go unnoticed to Elsa - who couldn't imagine how this could just be a _coincidence_.

"Yeah, all of my friends, too... And their parents." Pippa told her, as if it was a typical occurrence. But that did not at all comfort Elsa, who reached up to feel across her forehead. "And mama, but she doesn't like to talk about it."

By then, Elsa swallowed painfully, bowing her head as she struggled to focus at the reality of what was going on. Six nights in a row, she had been visited by a dark stranger who had asked her questions about her abilities, but Elsa had never answered. She had only shown him, in depictions of each dream that had been manipulated for her. As much as the logical side of her brain wanted to tell her that it was undoubtedly circumstantial that there were others struggling to sleep at night due to nightmares, there was something else that reminded her that there was something strange occurring - something that she couldn't explain.

"Queen Elsa, are you okay?"

It was Pippa's soft voice that broke Elsa out of her train of heavy thought. And slowly, the Snow Queen's azure eyes looked up to meet the bronze pair across from her. And before she could push the question aside, it was being said out of her mouth before she could catch it.

"The Boogeyman in your dreams, Pippa... What does he look like?"

For a brief flash of a second, Pippa looked too terrified to tell her. But eventually, she lifted her stare to look at her, like it might be her only chance to do so.

"I... Don't really remember." She responded innocently, hesitating for a half a second before her eyes grew fiercer and she opened her mouth slowly again; lips barely parting at the next answer to pass between them.

"But his eyes look like an eclipse. They were gold and silver..."

And that was something that was _not _coincidental, even if Elsa tried to tell herself that it was.

* * *

Oh Pitch, buddy boo. Ily.

I'll be updating tomorrow, teehee. Day off.

#PitchILoveYou  
#GoTeamWhatTeamWildcats  
#GetYourHeadInTheGame


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:**  
To my anonymous reviewer, I KNOW... I legitimately did not believe I would have the stamina to update regularly, but here we are. I never suffer writer's block as a result of being on a roleplaying site for two and a half years. I used to write over 50,000 words for that damn site every month, so writing comes really easily for me, I guess. Once I have an idea it festers into stuff like this.

LOL. Oh man, DivineRedFire, I miss Catelyn and Robb so much...! I was kidding about the Red Wedding part. *Rains Of Castamere plays in the distance* And yes, I have designated a tumblr page for my Jelsa feels, intents, and purposes. My url is simple; av-storm. I will follow back. If anyone has any questions or anything, you can contact me there. We can chat and bond and stuff.

Fear not, there will be more about Chronos. He'll play a somewhat crucial (chrocial ;D puns) part in this story, even if I don't want to glorify my own OC. I'll try not to~~ And with that, let me once again express my gratitude to each of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed. I love you guys.

#MorePippasometimesoon  
#DoYouWantToBuildASnowman  
#TeamKingslayer

* * *

_A New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter IV_

* * *

When Pippa had then excused herself from Elsa's company to join a group of her friends that called to her thereafter, the young queen attempted to straighten herself up as the dancing resumed from all around her. The young queen did not find herself composed whatsoever, however. She lifted one hand up to rest on her forehead, closing her eyes briefly as another tiny shiver shredded down her spine. The dreams had felt purely imaginative at first, as if the fear of being alone for two weeks during Kristoff and Anna's upcoming honeymoon had been based on her subsconcious that felt weary at the thought. But now, Pippa had told her that she had been enduring similar nightmares. But it wasn't just her - there were others as well, which led Elsa to slowly believe that there was something else going on. Of course, being born with extraordinary ice powers and living in Arendelle where the trolls of the Valley of the Living Rock resided meant that strange occurrences were bound to happen. Even so, the thought did not settle well with Elsa, who had been feeling a pair of dark eyes on her every move for the last six days...

The only thing that Elsa could think to do was attempt to forget the conversation she'd had with Pippa, at least throughout the rest of the duration of Anna's wedding. Particularly because when she reopened her eyes, Anna and Kristoff and fallen in step off of the dance floor to look at her. Anna's expression showed true worry, holding Kristoff's arm as they approached when Elsa's pale hand fell down to her side once more. She attempted to smile at the pair while her mind slowly eased back into the rhythm of the orchestrated music. But any look of disarray that she must have worn prior to the newly wed couple approaching must have been very apparent. Because Anna held a look of concern, as if she could see how clearly disgruntled her older sister was at the moment. Even in all of those years when Elsa had done nothing but shut her out, somehow Anna still had the innate capability to see right through her. It was as admirable as it was frustrating, considering that the young queen thought that she could take very good care of herself without relying on anyone to make her happy. Ergo, she tried to answer Anna's concern with a lift of her eyebrows, as if she was confused that she should appear as such.

"Elsa, is something wrong?" Anna's arm left Kristoff's, yet the princess hesitated, as if fearing that she might be prying too much into Elsa's business. Regardless, the young woman shifted her gaze down to her gown, brushing it off with her hands.

"It's nothing. I just have a headache." The Snow Queen had never been a particularly good liar, but it did enough to make Anna stop asking questions. Instead, her sister came up with different options while exchanging her a sympathetic smile.

"Well, you can go lay down if you want... You're not required to stand around on your feet if you aren't feeling well."

"No, no. I'm fine." Elsa exhaled deeply, looking up at them when she felt that her face had collected enough regularity, aspiring to look passive when she mentioned her explanation. "Besides, I want to see you both off before your ship leaves for France in a few hours."

The mention of the honeymoon growing closer to Elsa's deep pit of upcoming loneliness had festered. But it was true nonetheless, even if she would never admit to Anna that she didn't want to be alone while they vacationed abroad. After clearing her throat, she then cast Kristoff a mild look of teasing, before going on in a voice filled with amusement - desperate to find a way out of Anna's solicitude.

"And I believe my dear brother-in-law owes me a dance." Her lips pulled back into an entertained smile. And to her delight, the sentence did the trick - Anna backtracked from making any more suggestions, laughing as she nudged her husband with her elbow.

"Ah, erm..." Kristoff blinked several times at the new prospect, looking up as a slight flush began to move up his cheeks. Perhaps he hadn't been counting on the thought that he would be dancing with anyone but Anna during the ball, because he instantly looked for a way out of it. "Really? But I'm not very good at it..."

But Anna laughed, pushing Kristoff in Elsa's direction by his shoulders while waggling her eyebrows playfully from behind.

"Well go on, Kristoff; the queen is asking you for a dance." She chimed happily. Kristoff grimaced, taking a few steps towards Elsa as he was pressed against his will in her direction. "Better hurry, or she might freeze you in place before our honeymoon."

"That's very encouraging, thank you." Rolling his eyes as sarcasm was fluently met with his response, he turned around to face Anna with a smile. "But if you say so." Abruptly, he leaned down to peck Anna's lips with his own. And finally, he turned to meet Elsa again, one of his blonde eyebrows raised in great amusement as he bowed at Elsa. "Your majesty."

* * *

Dancing with Kristoff was surprisingly much less awkward than Elsa had thought it would be, even if she could feel that he was not at all comfortable keeping her in physical proximity. His fingertips barely touched the small of her back, leading her admirably while his amber eyes searched around the ballroom. Elsa commiserated with him entirely, attempting to keep a few inches between them as their feet moved in a practiced mannerism. While they had gathered a mutual acquaintanceship over the last year since he and Anna's courtship had begun, they hadn't been given much time to get to know each other. In fact, she wouldn't have even suggested that the two of them danced together at the wedding whatsoever if it hadn't meant slipping out of Anna's analytical vision, but there they were... And it took Elsa more than a minute whole to finally open her mouth to strike a conversation in hopes of cutting the awkward tension between them.

"Well Kristoff, I must say, you're more than half the dancer that I expected that you would be..." Elsa sighed, looking up at him teasingly. "How many times did Anna have you practice before today...?"

Kristoff groaned, shooting Elsa a very tortured expression as if he was relapsing at the memory.

"An hour every day for the past two months..." He grumbled, shaking his head at the thought. "They weren't so bad at first. But after a few weeks, my feet started killing me... And all of the other harvesters laughed when I told them why..."

Elsa chuckled under her breath, attempting to look appalled by the thought.

"Oh no. You mean that they questioned your authenticity of being a real man? How horrible... Such torture, I don't know how you lived to see the day of your marriage." The playful and sardonic reply made Kristoff smile, glancing down at Elsa again.

"Something like that..." He muttered, making more of a conscious effort to sway them appropriately to the music, even if he didn't have to.

"You could have just told Anna that you didn't want to have dancing lessons on a daily basis." Elsa countered, sighing some as her azure stare began to stray across the ballroom in thought.

"Yeah, I know... But it made her happy, so I just went with it."

The remark touched Elsa more than she thought that it would. It was such a simple act of kindness for Kristoff to give Anna that kind of time in his day to secure a happy relationship between them. Another reminder of why the young queen had never showed disapproval for the ice harvester. He was as genuinely good as any man could be - and she was pleased that he had been picked by Anna, as opposed to anyone else, while looking forward to having him in her family for the rest of her life.

But even so, that didn't stop Elsa's mind from wandering from the conversation she'd had with Pippa. The Boogeyman dreams, the feeling of someone's eyes on her in every direction that she took during the day... The reflection caused her breathing to stiffen marginally, as her gaze looked up to meet Kristoff's with a stern expression.

"... You're going to keep a good eye on her while you're in France, aren't you, Kristoff?"

It was such a little thing that she wanted to be reassured of. Their honeymoon marked the first time that Elsa and Anna had been apart in their entire lives, in fact. And again, Elsa was more and more grateful for him. Kristoff understood what they meant, even without Elsa having to explain such a feature to him. The smallest of all consoling smiles jerked at the corners of his mouth when he nodded, as if that answer should have been obvious to her already.

"Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I?" Kristoff asked softly. But Elsa didn't answer while she tilted her head in favor of the floor. Her feet began moving slower as fear began to penetrate her insides, as if she felt that it might be the last time that she would see her sister, so alive and happy. It was an unexplainable emotion that she couldn't manipulate, despite that she knew Kristoff was growing more worried.

"Elsa, are you sure something isn't wrong?"

Eventually, Elsa's eyes trailed up to find him again. Trust was a hard thing to come by when it came to the Snow Queen, but she had faith in Kristoff, and she wanted him to know that when she reopened her mouth to speak again.

"No, I'm just... Worried something might happen to both of you while you're away." She admitted slowly. A small flutter of frost began to reappear over her fingertips that grazed the black fabric over Kristoff's shoulder, something that she sought to control as soon as it came. Kristoff didn't seem to notice, however. Instead, his jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed.

"Nothing is going to happen." His brown eyes looked hard into hers, as if there was no other pledge that he would make without meaning it. "I promise I'll take care of her, Elsa. You don't have to worry."

The song ended after that. And Elsa exhaled sharply, bringing her arms back down to her side. Anxiety fluttered through her stomach, making it twist in different directions. But the honesty that Kristoff had offered her was relieving in the slightest way. And so, the queen gave him a smile.

"... Thank you."

"No problem." Kristoff grinned, leaning up to get a better look over the sea of people in the ballroom to search for Anna. When he finally did, his jesting returned before he slipped away to return to his wife again.

"And by the way, you're not half the dancer that I expected that you would be. For a Snow Queen, anyway."

And Elsa managed to laugh, despite that her dread hadn't ceased since her conversation with Pippa Overland.

* * *

It was a quarter after seven when Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff were all standing closely together outside of Arendelle's docks once the ceremony had finally ended. The newlyweds were set to board their ship to Paris after Anton - the head guard of security in the castle - finished carrying the luggage up into compartment. But as the minutes drew nearer and the sun began to sink behind the North Mountain, Anna had finally drawn Elsa into a tight embrace - as if realizing finally that it was the first time that they had been separated. The young queen had returned the affection, but felt herself grow smaller in her sister's arms. A very selfish part of her brain wished that they would consider staying in Arendelle, but Elsa knew that wasn't a consideration. And therefore, she drew out of Anna's hug quickly before she became emotional and attached.

"Write to me as soon as you get there. I just want to know that you arrived safely." Elsa made her promise, finding herself truly terrified at the thought that Anna and Kristoff could be lost at sea as their parents had.

"Of course I will." Anna answered softly. Her gaze met Elsa's, looking at her searchingly, as if she could see every emotion that her sister was trying to compress even without her saying so.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she does in case she forgets... Like always." Kristoff said playfully from behind them. Anna turned around to smack him against the chest, warranting Elsa the right to chuckle against the back of her hand. She opened her mouth to make her own teasing remark, but it was cut off by Anton leaning over the deck of the ship and down at them.

"Your majesty, the captain is ready for you now."

"Thank you, Anton." Anna called up at him. Her blue eyes looked at Elsa with concern, reaching down to grasp her hand to give it a squeeze. "You're going to be fine, Elsa."

"I know, it's not me that I'm worried about..." Elsa admitted, sighing when her sister released her hand. As she emotionally forced herself to close off when her throat began to tighten, she cast a grin at Anna and pretended to shoo her away. "Just go. Have fun, don't even think about me."

"Alright, I will. Apart from not thinking about you, anyway." Anna laughed, tilting her head to look up when she unexpectedly enveloped Elsa with her arms again. "I love you, write to me if you need us to come home early."

"That won't be necessary." Elsa promised, smiling widely. "I love you too, Anna. Have a safe trip and don't fall into the ocean."

And no other words were spoken between the queen and the princess, before the couple had made their way down the docks and up into the ship awaiting them. Sighing feebly, Elsa had the inspiration to wait around while their ship disappeared like black sails in the sunset. And finally, when there was nothing left for her there - and she felt pleased that she had done a few things right that day - the queen retreated back to the castle as bleak thoughts crossed her mind. Pippa's voice remained a shadow in the back of her head, ringing out periodically like an unforgettable mantra...

_"But his eyes look like an eclipse. They were gold and silver..."  
_

* * *

In an effort to distract herself from delving on any thought that entangled with the Boogeyman or loneliness, Elsa focused on work that included cleaning up the castle after the guests had dispersed. But it wasn't long before the staff was telling her that it was their job to clean, insisting that she took the night off after her engaging day. And so, the young queen retreated to her bedchamber much earlier than she would have any other night, desiring nothing more than to read something to keep her mind off of any impending thoughts. Yawning some, the queen had begun unpinning her hair from the bun that it had been styled into the wedding. She felt pleased when she felt the white-blonde tendrils spill down her back after a long day of confinement. When she began to yawn - realizing that she was much more tired than she had originally thought - she started moving over her chestnut wardrobe to search for a nightgown to wear.

But when her cool fingers had opened the closet door, a gust of hot breath brushed against the back of her neck. Elsa froze, feeling as something dark shifted from behind her; so quickly, with the movement like a viper. Heart hammering against her chest and ice crackling up her fingertips, hands, and wrists, Elsa flipped around to send a shock of ice out of her fingertips at the unknown source. But the only thing left in its wake was a trail of shadows, bent out of shape on the floor. And Elsa didn't bother controlling herself - sending a separate blast of sharp icicles towards whatever it was that was there with her.

"Don't think I don't see you." She growled through gritted teeth, losing her patience as the shades of black on the floor conformed. Elsa's heart began to race as a frenzy of panic quaked through her entire body, holding her hands up for any time that she might have to defend herself.

But it wasn't the shadows on the floor that she had to worry about. Because when the words left her lips, something crawled out of her wardrobe from behind her; and warm, sticky breath could be felt against her right cheek when the gray face impended into her own.

"I'm right here."

Jumping back with fear penetrating her judgment, Elsa raised her left arm to blast a spiral of frost against the ashen face. It froze upon impact; but his eyes were still open and wide, watching her. Elsa frantically made the inclination to fight again, but just when she did so, a hand caught her own in midair and the man from her dreams had disappear; reappearing behind her. When his cold, corpse-like flesh made contact with her own, Elsa's powers had the advantage again, freezing it as she struggled to get away.

"My, my... You are powerful, aren't you?" The man spoke, and for the first time, Elsa was able to get a good look at him through the lantern of her bedchamber.

He was tall, towering over her, with broad shouldered. Lean and long faced, sneering behind several pointed teeth. And he bore those eyes - peering back at her like a hungry flame that wanted to lick at her skin. Elsa realized that there was a strange familiar setting about him, but she composed her thoughts as she took a several steps away to distance herself from him, mentally pleading that he would never so much as _touch _her again.

"Who are you?" Elsa demanded, voice shrill and disconnected as she struggled to construct a single conclusive sentence in her own head. Every inch of her body begged for her to run away, but she stayed still, looking up into that menacing face that cracked a smile above her.

"Ah, your majesty." His voice was deep, accent rolling off of his tongue as he made the effort to bow his head. The young queen grimaced, wanting to interject before he could speak again. But she didn't have time to do so - the man from her nightmares was already equipped with words, like he had been saving them for a very long time.

"Finally, we meet again... It's only been a week, I didn't estimate that I would catch your attention as quickly as I did." His lips formed another simper, resting his hands behind his back. "But here we are, aren't we? My, you exceed my expectations more and more every day..."

Another jet of ice streamed out of her palms involuntarily towards him, but the effort was crushed in a single movement as he slinked into a shadow and then reemerged, looking amused and intrigued all at once.

"Now, now... Let's play nicely now, shall we?" The man sighed, reaching to place one, long-fingered hand against his chest. "I'm Pitch Black, Nightmare King, the Boogeyman... But you're free to call me whatever you would like."

There were no words that Elsa found as she stared with wide eyes, hoping that the reality in her stead was nothing more than a cruel trick of imagination. But as Pitch's voice resonated, she felt her stomach churn, knowing that it wasn't a dream anymore.

"Don't you remember me, Elsa...? I was there for you when you were a child, so scared of your own powers, so fearful that you were going to hurt someone..." He paused, looking Elsa over with fondness. The young woman tried to scramble for any recollection of the dreams she'd had in the past involving him, but nothing came to.

"But, as it were, you moved on - refusing to believe in the Boogeyman who watched over you. I never would have guessed that little and sweet Princess Elsa of Arendelle inhabited such powers..." Pitch sighed, replacing his hands behind his back as he angled his body so that his profile was facing her. "Of course, if I had known three hundred years ago, I would have done this _much _sooner. Your parents did their very best to keep you protected... But it's better late than never, isn't it?"

And then she remembered. Being so young once, shortly after her accident with Anna, and running into her parents' bedchamber desperately with the hope that the visions would go away... They had told her that the Boogeyman was fictional, purely made to scare children. And that was when the dreams had ceased to exist, once she had stopped believing.

"You're not real." Elsa insisted sharply, narrowing her eyes. But she didn't lower her arms nor her hands once, fearing that he might try and touch her again. "You never were."

Her fingers fidgeted in front of her when Pitch began to laugh, echoing throughout the walls of her bedchamber.

"Say it all you'd like, but I'm still here, aren't I?" He asked tauntingly, turning to her again. "You _believe _in me now, Elsa. And none of the guardians are here to help you. They're all centuries away, unbeknownst to what I have done in just a mere week."

"What guardians?" She breathed shallowly, gaze growing cold as she reached out into the unknown that the Nightmare King had to offer.

"Oh you know, those petty holiday figures... Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny..." His ashen hands came in front of him again, as he counted them on his fingers. But once the figures were mentioned, Elsa recalled them easily; remembering a leatherbound book that entailed the extraordinary journeys of the guardians that her father had once read to her when she had been small. And finally, Pitch looked up as he tacked off the last one on his list to convince her, slowly looking up with another smile intact.

"Ah, and Jack Frost - I believe you've been telling stories about him to the children in Arendelle to cope with what happened. But really, I should be thanking him, because if it weren't for his memories that I snatched and confiscated, I never would have seen you reach your true potential."

_Jack Frost_. The young queen felt her head whirling in different directions, struggling to keep herself level-headed at the mention of the stories she had been telling the children of Arendelle for the last year when they had visited the castle. Jack Frost, the personification of winter, a myth that came along with Old Man Winter... But he couldn't mean Jack Overland, of all people...

"Surely you don't mean - " Elsa started mildly. But Pitch didn't seem to catch anything amiss as he cut her off with the sound of his own voice.

"_Your _Jack?" He questioned, pacing momentarily as he drawled on. "That obnoxious human boy who died to save his sister?"

If he had been waiting for the queen's affirmation, it didn't come. Elsa meekly stared, pulse pounding hard against her eardrum while forcing herself not to blink just in case he tried to make another move towards her.

"Yes, he's still around. But Jack's time has passed through this century. He doesn't remember you nor anyone else."

Elsa didn't want to believe him, hoping that it was nothing more than a crude joke. And she deduced quickly that it must have been some technique that he was proud to use against her. And inasmuch, she didn't give it another thought as her eyebrows furrowed together, waiting for him to explain _why _he was there. But Pitch Black did not disappoint, going on in the same musical tone as before.

"You see, unlike frail humans such as yourself, the guardians and I are only granted one sole existence. If we make one decision, we remember." A hood of shadows came over his face, forming into strange, louring figures that Elsa tried not to discern when she carefully analyzed the Nightmare King. "And the future will alter _drastically. _So do you understand why I'm here now, Queen Elsa?"

Again, the queen was silent, holding her shoulders up higher. Pitch covered his mouth with his palm to chuckle, before blurting out his motive.

"Because the wonderful thing about this generation is that the myth of the Boogeyman is still _alive_. I now have a chance to redeem myself - starting with Arendelle."

Elsa nearly blinked, unable to fathom that anyone could possibly travel from the future. She wanted to belittle him, but there was no chance to make the inclination. Pitch resumed his speech, eyes growing golder in the dim light.

"This kingdom _will _be mine, and after I've consumed it whole and word travels around the world that I am alive, there will be no guardians to come to the rescue."

Lips pursing together into a hard line, she was able to summon her bravery again while lowering her hands an inch in front of her. Allowing one of the corners of her mouth to drag upwards, she stared at Pitch with amusement, unable to prevent herself from becoming snarky.

"You expect to take Arendelle over with a few nightmares?" She asked, but her voice sounded strangely foreign, even to her. Pitch glowered, mouth twitching at the fact that she wasn't taking his threads seriously. "I think that's _very _farfetched, especially for someone who can't be seen unless they are believed in."

"You think so, my dear?" The Boogeyman continued in a gentle voice, contorting his neck to look at her. "I wonder, will you continue to labor under that delusion when your people bow to me instead of you?"

And then Elsa chuckled, holding her posture up higher to face him.

"That won't happen." She countered sharply, clenching her jaw. "So long as I'm the queen, my people will be safe from someone as vain and ineffective as you."

"Are you sure you want to take that risk?" Pitch asked mischievously. When he began to stroll in front of her again, Elsa dared to keep herself front and center, refusing to move a muscle if he thought that she was afraid. She kept her head high and her eyes looking into his, urging herself to keep calm.

"After all, your people are _seeing _me now, Elsa... Isn't that what dear Pippa told you herself?" Her breathing stiffened at the mention of Pippa, intuitively opening her mouth to defend the small girl who had done nothing wrong. But the effort was lost when Pitch spoke hastier than before, successfully shattering any remark that might have left her lips.

"How will you be able to inform them that I am nonexistent when I stare them down in the eyes myself, and take control over their body, mind, and soul?"

"I'll take that chance." Elsa retorted boldly, frost emitting from her fingertips, as if daring him to take a step closer. But he didn't - and that was when she knew that she had the upperhand. Even amidst his dark demeanor, Pitch Black was a spirit. A lost soul, not a person, and he knew it. Yet his teeth gnashed together, as if he hadn't been anticipating that she might take the objection and refuse to give in.

"Is that a challenge, my dear?" He asked gruffly, shadows fading from his face some. Elsa dared herself to smile, peering back at him when ice began to slither underneath her.

"Did I stutter?"

But by then, Pitch had acknowledge the rushing sleet coming at him. He looked up at her, sinking into another black umbrage to return a little less than a second later, resting against the pane of her bedroom window.

"Such _bravery _from someone who feared no one more than herself a year ago..." He was whispering now, staring at her with a mixture of awe and envy. "Your parents would be so proud. It's a shame they're no longer here to watch when I sink my teeth into you."

But then there was no evidence of him. No proof that he had been there, when the shadows disappeared as quickly as they had come... Elsa breathed, the rush of adrenaline eating away at insides like acid. The only thing that she could think to do was revisit the book that her father had once held in his possession - to find the trolls in the Valley of the Living Rock, in hope that Pitch Black had been nothing more than an fearing illusion. Even if the cool, aching feeling in her bones told her that he was _real_.

* * *

#OHMYGODPITCH  
#LIFE'SAPITCH  
#ElsaisDefyingGraaavity  
#AdeleDazeem

Sorryyyy I couldn't help writing an Elsa/Kristoff moment... Their relationship interests me. Like, they don't really know each other, but they understand and love Anna together, so they're super chill? Idk.

I realize I have all these minuscule characters that I'm actually very fond of. Like Anton and Hilda. I ship them. ;) And Ensel. Oh, _Ensel_.

I think this was the longest chapter I've ever written. Good though, you guys deserve it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:**  
Sometimes I feel like this story is shit but thank you guys so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Sixty follows in less than a week is astounding for me. I was going to have the chapter jump to where Jack is at the moment, but then I had another idea that festered while I was working today. I just love writing in Elsa's point of view too much.

To answer your questions though...

1 - Jack will get some of his memories back _eventually_, but I don't want to ruin it for the potential Jelsa goodies that I have planned. When Pitch said that he had confiscated Jack's memories, he had taken out the parts with Elsa in them to devise his plan to get back to Arendelle (when he took Jack's memories in RotG, obvs). Hopefully some of that will be explained in this chapter.

2 - Very good, Nefarious Seraph 13. You caught me with the deliberate choice of the title having to do with angels. Cough. And saints. Yes, Jack and Elsa **will** be together by the end of the fic, I can promise that. But I'm not going to tell you anything else. ;)

With that, I hope this isn't lame as hell. I seriously have so much planned out right now... But I'll try to get to Jelsa as soon as I can. Collaborating Frozen and Rise of the Guardians is so much fun, like I can't. I want to make this story into something a lot bigger than just the romance aspect of it. I hope that's okay. And plus, details on Anna and Elsa's parents...! I cannot resist.

Just bear with me. I'm going to spend so much time on Jack and Elsa when the time calls for it. But for now, Pitch is getting most of my love because I adore that guy. And I'm finally writing Olaf into this chapter since I neglected him in Summer Shudder. My apologies~

CHEETAH, GUUURL, I AIN'T GONNA KILL KRISTOFF OR ANNA. No one is going to die... *cough* ... Yet.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter V  
_

* * *

Resisting the great usage of her own wintery powers shortly after the Nightmare King's appearance in her bedchamber within the castle proved impossible for the Snow Queen that evening. Tremors tore through her entire being, unable to even give sleep even the barest consideration as she trotted down the stairs exasperately from what had happened, wishing that Pitch Black would reappear so that she could defy him even further. But when she went looking for him, no one could be found but the staff members who all noted how her hands were shaking as frost crackled up her arms. They asked her repeatedly what was wrong, but Elsa dismissed them as she went straight through the second hallway down the grand staircase. She didn't stop until she had entered her father's study, searching adeptly for the book that her father had once used to locate the trolls in the Valley of the Living Rock with the high hopes that they would aid an unconscious Anna.

The book was eventually found as Elsa tore through the shelves with frozen fingers, knocking several others out of place and onto the floor with her emotional disarray. Once she clamped it hard in her hands, she turned around swiftly on her heel to approach the desk centered at the left of the office. It would have been _much _easier to locate the trolls if Kristoff were still around, a thought that made Elsa bite her lower lip as concentration swallowed her whole. Her eyes read over a passage about the trolls that her father must have marked, before she finally flipped the page desperately and found a map. Brushing the flakes of ice off of her fingers, Elsa picked it up promptly, narrowing her vision as she examined the directions thoroughly.

The one memory of the trolls that she still had was not a fond one, but it was something that she had clung to during her youth. And since the one elder troll - Elsa had never known his name - had known so much about her powers, the young queen was determined at the thought that they would know something about Pitch Black. And the thought settled her down some, as she folded the crevices of the paper map back into place.

She would revisit the Valley of the Living Rock as soon as she was able to do so, to learn about the fate of Arendelle that Pitch had spoken so arrogantly about. But another recollection of the Nightmare King sent another flutter of terror and rage deeply settling within the queen, who again refused to make eye contact with any of the staff members when she trekked back up to her bedchamber. The map was held close to her heart, and she looked it over and over again when she finally rationalized that she had to try and sleep. Even if there was a deep slow panic that continued resonating through her - reminding her that Pitch would only be there, should she try.

* * *

Eventually, the hours passed and Elsa could no longer keep her eyes open. Sleep came to her regardless, despite that she tried to keep her eyes open and even made the effort to pace around her room in a desperate attempt to stay awake.

But it was not Pitch Black who arrived in her dreams that night.

Instead, when Elsa roused from sleep the morning after, she recalled reliving a memory when she and Anna had been very small. It was such a tiny recollection that Elsa had nearly forgotten, but it had been with her parents during Christmas in the ballroom of the castle. The room held the warmth of the fire, wafting in the smell of cinnamon and candles. A very young Elsa watched a miniature version of her little sister opening her presents, gleefully looking up at the king and queen next to the Christmas tree when she finally freed the contents of a gift. It was a porcelain doll, and just one look at it caused Anna to jump up frantically and hug at her mother and father's legs with gratitude.

_"Go on, Elsa. Open yours now, darling." _Her mother had encouraged from above her. The smile on her lips was something that the young queen had never forgotten - wishing that it had never gone away. But erstwhile, the younger version of herself had smiled cheekishly, rushing up onto her small feet to pick up a wrapped parcel that had her name written on it.

But something else twinkled in the corner of her vision, causing Elsa to turn towards the stained glass window. For the briefest second, she saw a tiny, squat man standing there. He was encrusted with gold - every inch of him covered with the color - while standing up straight, looking right at her while floating up on an equally golden cloud. At first, Elsa stared curiously, blinking at him while he beamed in response. But when she tried to call out to him, the little man pressed a finger to his lips to silence her...

And that was when Elsa had awoken, staring out into her bedchamber with wonder while warm sunlight spilled into her bedroom. The fear of Pitch was still primitive, but something else from the dream - the memory that she had shoved aside after her parents' deaths - caused her to feel lighter that day, as bliss from the scene drank into her senses. She hoped it wouldn't end, even if she had plenty of duties to attend to... Especially now that Anna was away. Although a part of Elsa was glad that she was - imagining what the Boogeyman would do to her sister, if she was there...

* * *

"Your majesty, I'm sorry to do this to you again, but..."

Elsa nearly outwardly groaned when Anton tapped at the door frame of her father's study, but reminded herself keenly that it would be unkind to do so. Instead, she exhaled sharply while she took in his uniformed appearance for at least the twelfth time that day since her morning had started with work. At first, the grand prospect of getting her mind off of the dark figure from her dreams and bedroom from the night before and the loneliness that had been provided since Kristoff and Anna's honeymoon had begun had seemed more than idealistic. But now, she was beginning to feel highly irritable and exhausted when her azure eyes slowly trailed over to the familiar attendant and guard.

Anton held another stack of papers for her to look over, regarding her a look of sympathy while glancing up at the grandfather's clock in the corner of the room to check the time.

"It's fine, don't worry." Elsa tried to say dismissively, but she knew that her tone had lost any appetite for enthusiasm since noon when she had been handed the first bundle of paperwork that had arrived that morning. Ergo, the young queen quickly stood up from the chair, attempting to ignore how stiff her body felt from how much sitting had been done that day...

"Forgive me for saying so, but you've been at this for nearly six hours now, your highness." Anton regarded her with scrutiny, yet he looked sympathetic all the same. She studied the paperwork in her hands when she had taken them from him.

"I know how to tell time too, if you can believe it." The response came caustically dribbling out of her before she could hope to catch it, instantly causing her to clamp her hand over her mouth. Anton's eyebrows raised with amusement at first, Elsa was quick to fix the mistake.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry, I'm just... I'm stressed, I'm sorry, Anton..."

But the man merely shook his head, shooting her a smile.

"I'll tell Hilda to get you something." He promised, turning around while heading down the corridor again. "Will coffee work, your majesty?"

"Yes." Elsa exhaled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand; bearing testimony to how truly exhausted she felt. "Yes, that will be just fine. Thank you."

Sighing, the young queen found herself back into the stiff chair in front of the mahogany desk, spilling the contents of the new paperwork out in front of her. She had just begun stretching out her neck, however, when someone else then clambered into the room. And the appearance of the little living snowman made Elsa realize that her work was about to be put on hold at the sight of him.

"Hey Elsa! What are you up to?" Olaf chimed. His carrot nose bounced as he walked underneath the snow flurry that she had created for him specifically the summer before, nearly causing Elsa to crack a smile.

"Hello, Olaf." She responded civilly, leaning back into her chair while staring down the little mountain of papers in front of her. "I'm working."

"Good, we need to have a chat..." The snowman continued, as if he couldn't see how flustered she was. But Elsa had to remind herself that he probably couldn't. "See, some of the kids downtown were wanting to go sledding, and I thought that maybe tomorrow, if you weren't busy, you could - "

"That's a very nice consideration, but I'm working right now." Elsa cast him a smirk, raising an eyebrow. Olaf looked shocked, as if it hadn't crossed his mind once since he had arrived in the study.

"You are?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I did tell you."

"Oh." He backtracked, sounding confused, until his eyes lit up with great enthusiasm. "Well, will you do it?!"

Elsa sighed, feeling her patience growing thinner as the conversation continued.

"Remind me tomorrow, I'll see what I can do." Attempting to smile at the snowman of her own creation, she then nodded towards the desk in front of her. "For now, could you give me some space to finish this?"

"Sure." Olaf scooted over a few feet, making more of a distance between them. "Is that enough?"

"Olaf..." Elsa tried to say in her best scolding tone, but just the slightest breath of a chuckle managed to pass between her lips.

"What?" Olaf asked, appearing as oblivious as ever. But it was his next sentence that caused a chill to ripple down her spine...

"By the way, who was that guy I saw floating around the castle early this morning?"

Nearly losing her breath at the assumption that it must have been no one else but the Nightmare King again, Elsa shot him a hardened look.

"What guy?" Her voice was cool, jaw clenching instinctively.

"You didn't see him? He was all gold, floating in midair... Kinda looked like a chubby fairy, to be honest."

Elsa felt her stomach untwist at once, but when she realized that the figure Olaf was describing matched up impeccably with the short man she had seen in her dream, she was on her feet before she could control herself.

"_You _saw him?! Where?! Where did you see him?!" The questions came spilling out of her mouth before she had known that she had asked them. Erstwhile, she stared down wide-eyed at the small snowman, unable to believe that he had truly seen the benevolent character... Nothing made sense anymore, not since Pitch Black had arrived, and even that wasn't something that she was certain about.

Olaf made a small _hmm_, as if trying to remember the scene properly. But finally, his gaze centered on her again, making Elsa brim with anticipation.

"Well, he was coming down the stairs last night around two in the morning... But he didn't say anything, he just disappeared after I tried to say hello. Poof, all gold and dusty."

"He didn't say anything?" Elsa asked instantly, running her fingers through her white-blond hair. Her mind whirled in every different direction from the thought and realization that the new image from her dreams had been as equally real as Pitch had been. "Nothing at all?"

"Nope."

And that was when Elsa knew that the visit to the Valley of the Living Rock couldn't wait a minute longer.

* * *

Explaining to the staff that she was leaving for a few hours was not an easy task to uphold. They sought to come with her as she readied herself, but Elsa made the determination to lie by saying that she was visiting the Overland household. Whether or not they believed her, the young queen would never know - in the end, they made no effort to stop her (despite that Elsa overheard them discussing that it must have been her way to cope with the fact that Anna was several continents away) before she was wandering out into the stable, searching for one of the horses to take on the journey with her. Inasmuch, the Valley of the Living Rock was much too far away to get there and back in a few hours by foot. But unfortunately for the queen, she hadn't rode any horses since her childhood, which left her ultimately befuddled on how to approach one.

Luckily, Sven had come out to greet her, licking her firmly across the cheek upon greeting. Elsa grimaced at the wetness against her cheek, but she wiped it off quickly and greeted the approaching, lonely reindeer regardless.

"Hello Sven. You must be really lonely without Kristoff here, huh?" She reached out to scratch the top of his head. Smiling fondly when the gesture seemed to lighten him up, Elsa blinked as realization sunk into her - Sven knew the route to the Valley of the Living Rock better than anyone else would, with the exception of Kristoff.

"Do you want to go somewhere with me?" She asked, feeling ultimately ridiculous to be speaking to Sven as Kristoff would do on a daily basis... But she continued anyway, feeling encouraged when the reindeer suddenly appeared enlightened at the idea. "I'm going to the Valley of the Living Rock... You know where that is, don't you?"

* * *

The trail to the destination that she had tried to forget about all through her journey into adulthood was _strange _to Elsa, who felt as if the day of Anna's accident in the castle ballroom had been only a few years ago - not thirteen. The recollection of the precise moment when her parents had decided to erase Anna's memories was vivid - even the air around Arendelle reminded her of the evening that the king and queen had rushed to find the trolls themselves in hopes of saving their younger daughter. Erstwhile, even in the summer air as the sun began to dip underneath the North Mountain, she felt herself shudder at the reflection; attempting to keep her stare on the map while Sven happily trotted underneath her. She had to admit, Kristoff was right that he was pleasant company, even if she wouldn't admit it to him any time soon.

Finally, they arrived in the valley, which reeked of mud and earth. Elsa hadn't anticipated that Sven would take her to the exact location where her parents had found the trolls fourteen years prior, but when he did, she found herself blinking as her feet hit the cool grass underneath her. She blinked curiously at the small boulders in front of her, knowing very well that they weren't rocks at all. Taking a few cautious steps forward, she looked back at Sven again uncertainly. And finally, after summoning all of her bravery - realizing that if she wanted answers, this was where she was going to find them - the Snow Queen eventually called out into the gorge, hearing her own voice echo against the pillars of stones.

"Excuse me, is anyone here?"

The rocks shifted at the sound of her voice, sending Elsa jumping back into the air with fright. Her slight frenzy of hysteria ended shortly, however; when the rocks suddenly contorted into the short trolls that she had met during her childhood. Letting out a breath of relief behind her hands, the young queen lowered her arms back down to her side, surprised that only a few of them were taking knowledge to her. Instead, a few of them piped in back and forth about Sven.

"Isn't that Sven?"

"Sven? Where's Kristoff?"

"He's on his honeymoon, you idiot..."

And then a synchronized gasp between the multiple creatures - the trolls had seen her, taking in her appearance with awe.

"It's the queen!"

"Queen Elsa?!"

"Oh, what _other _queen could it be?"

"Shut up! Let the girl speak, for pete's sake!"

Elsa felt herself flush when she was being addressed promptly, staring down at what seemed like a sea of small, curious heads looking back at her. She swallowed hard, attempting to get her own tongue to move as silence filled the community.

"Err..." She coughed, hoping that would help her recover her normally regal demeanor. And finally, she managed to compose a sentence as her expressions flattened determinedly.

"Hello, I'm looking for someone. An elderly..." She paused, looking around at each of the trolls, trying to decide what to call them. "... Gentleman."

"Right here, my queen."

A wise, low voice made itself known between the cluster of trolls. Elsa felt her heart rate quicken, realizing that she recognized its owner. And finally, after a little less than a minute of trolls being moved aside, the oldest of them all came to the front. The smallest of all smile came to his face, looking up at the Snow Queen with a resigned tenderness that he hadn't shown her on that day fourteen years ago...

"My, Queen Elsa... I thought you'd be coming here some time soon." Elsa felt one of her eyebrows raise in confusion, about to open her mouth to ask how he had known such a thing. But just as her lips had parted, the troll was continuing. "And look at you. How much you've grown. You've become such a beautiful young woman, and you look just like your mother."

A smile involuntarily rested on Elsa's lips at the comment. She had always felt great pride whenever someone mentioned how much she had inherited her mother's features, especially now that the late queen had passed away.

"Thank you, sir." Elsa remarked softly, clasping her hands in front of her.

"No need to call me sir, Pabbie will do just fine." The troll insisted, raising his bushy brows at her.

"Pabbie it is, then." She coincided, tilting her head marginally. "I apologize for arriving so late and without notice, but - "

Pabbie the troll was quick to cut her off with a shake of his head, raising up one small, chunky hand as if to silence her.

"No need to say you're sorry, I know why you're here..."

Elsa blinked with confusion, only able to keep her focus on Pabbie now that he had predicted her own future movements. Breathing shallowly, she eventually gained the confidence to speak again, though her voice was much smaller now than it had been since her arrival.

"You do?"

"Yes." Pabbie answered simply. His voice was graver now, deepening as his eyes narrowed. "It is not unknown to our people that Pitch Black has returned from the future to make Arendelle his own."

"You know Pitch Black?" Elsa's voice cracked slightly, unclasping her hands. Frost began to tingle at the inside of her fingers, but she held the rush of emotions off by gripping both of them so tightly that her knuckles shown white. Ergo, Pabbie the troll chuckled dryly.

"Oh, my dear queen, we all do..." Eerieness spread down through her throat and into her chest, making Elsa come to the recognition then and there that Pitch _hadn't _been lying... But again, her voice caught, and she was unable to respond until she forced herself when the pairs of eyes on her were growing wider.

"It's true then, what he told me..." Her voice was barely a whisper now, feeling dread sink through everything that she had known through her entire life. Pitch Black was _not _a figment of her imagination, and he had come to do what he had promised - which was take Arendelle over, whether she liked it or not.

"I'm afraid so." Pabbie admitted softly, looking her over with great appreciation despite the gloom in his words. "And it's only going to worsen, until Arendelle is nothing left of the diminished future that it holds."

Elsa released a shaky exhale, attempting to relax her fingers that had formed into fists. But it was the only thing controlling her powers now - the first time that she had felt truly emotionally compromised since she had frozen Anna's heart. But even so, the young woman had been raised to be the Queen of Arendelle. And bearing that thought in mind caused her stare to harden, looking at the troll for any source in which he might be able to help.

"What can be done? How can I stop him?"

Whispers were now being heard between the trolls. She heard the words "Pitch Black", "nightmares", and "guardians" being thrown around several times between the occupants, but when she tried to concentrate on a fluent sentence being offered between the creatures, Pabbie was interrupting them.

"Forgive me, my queen, but perhaps you and I should talk in private." His voice was gentler now; the tiniest note of contention resting on his vocal chords as his gaze drew to her face more intense than before. "These matters are very deep, and I think I would rather indulge you alone. Come along."

* * *

Elsa had no choice in the matter, as she began to follow the troll instinctively. Her feet began maneuvering against the grass beneath her, silently pleading that where he was taking her wasn't too far away. Thankfully, it wasn't, but the young queen felt perturbed by the outcome when Pabbie showed her a mud hut. Attempting to keep her face free from the grimace that threatened to escape, she lowered herself into the makeshift shed when Pabbie held up the draped door for her - far too tall to be expected to stand up straight.

Upon entering the small hut, Elsa was greeted with a chair. Pabbie insisted that she sat down, before he went for a second seat, carefully setting it down next to her.

"Please, sit down." He made the effort to smile. "It is the least I can do for you, after your father was so generous to us..."

This was news to Elsa, causing the young queen to raise an eyebrow while she pertained to a question that came to her mind instantaneously.

"My father? How so?" Surprisingly, her voice was purely inquisitive. But Pabbie looked surprised, startled even, at what she didn't know.

"He didn't tell you?" He asked. Elsa shook her head, eager for the answers that he provided a second later.

"Our land was nearly shriveled once, torn away by civilization as Arendelle grew. But he gave us this property the live here, and it was a debt I never was able to repay him..."

It sounded like something that her father would have done. Elsa smiled minimally at the mention of him, looking down at her hands and the cross of her legs.

"But you saved my sister's life." She reminded him softly, as if that made up for her father's actions. Just when she began to wonder how long ago that must have been, Pabbie spoke straightforward.

"That I did, but he saved my _family, _dear queen..." Another smile was shed, as if the memory was one of his fondest. But his eyes then met Elsa's again, as if to reassure her of the good that the King of Arendelle had done before his passing. "And that is much more than one person."

Thinking of her father only caused Elsa's mouth to transform into a solemn frown, wondering how different her life would have been if her parents had never gone overseas. Reminding herself of Pitch Black from the evening before, subsequently, caused her eyes to look up with intent again. Pabbie acknowledged this immediately, dismissing his prior chatter with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, I'm blabbering again... I'm sorry." Elsa wanted to tell him that it was okay; that she enjoyed hearing about her father, but Pabbie was shuffling off of the chair and towards a graying sack in the corner of the hut. He murmured under his breath, before seemingly finding what he was looking for shortly after. Elsa could only stare, wondering what he could possibly be looking to find, but her answer came before she was given the opportunity to ask. "Here, this is what I have for you to see."

The elderly troll came back, hobbling in front of her holding a brilliant red, leatherbound book. The queen stared, slowly taking it from him. It had been written in a language that looked ancient - something that she didn't understand - but when she flipped the first page open, there was an image there; drawn into the Christmas character known as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny... Only they were far different from how Elsa had ever imagined them as a child, especially with the way that the moon had been drawn supernaturally into the background.

"These are the guardians?" She tried to make her tone serious, despite that she felt like it was too farfetched for her to believe. Pabbie didn't seem to notice thankfully, as he recovered his place on the chair beside her, prompting her to continue searching the pages as he spoke.

"Yes, I'm sure you know a few." His big eyes trailed Elsa's hands as she skimmed the pages, only finding the first several of them written in the language that she couldn't discern while Pabbie explained it to her. "They were spirits chosen by the Man in the Moon, or Tsar Lunar, as I call him."

"And all of them... Exist?" Elsa looked up from her stare on the pages to meet his gaze, keeping it there, as if to detect if he was lying or not. Pabbie raised his eyebrows once more in bewilderment, tilting his head to the side at the sound of her confusion.

"You seem surprised."

Elsa's ivory-skinned fingers continued to skim over the pages, unsure of what to tell him what she thought. Until finally, there was the image of the little golden man from her dream the evening before. And that was when her fingertip pressed against the page, looking up at Pabbie to determine who he was.

"This one. Who is he?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper. Pabbie looked down, smiling warmly at the sight of the golden figure that had been printed onto the paper exquisitely.

"Ah, the Sandman, Guardian of Dreams." The troll answered lightly. Elsa reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes, ambitious to tell him what she had seen the night before.

"I saw him last night." Her voice was surprisingly excited.

"You did?" Pabbie looked at her, as if the thought was unfathomable, but his voice raised higher than ever. "Through a dream, I propose?"

Elsa nodded. "Yes."

And from that response, Pabbie was clapping his hands together with enthusiasm.

"Well that is a good sign, my dear, a good sign indeed...! That must mean that the guardians are already on their way here!"

"All of them?" She felt weary, grimacing some. The whole guardian concept was just something that she couldn't conceive, staring frankly at the troll from beside her. "You mean, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy...?"

"Well, there are a few others as well..." Pabbie murmured, scratching his chin. "One of them being the Guardian of Time, Chronos. I assume it was through his ability that Pitch managed to escort himself into this century again."

"Chronos? I've never heard of him." Feeling awkward to admit such a thing to a creature that seemed to carry an endless array of knowledge, she leaned away marginally when Pabbie reached to flip through the pages of the book. Keeping an eye on the passages and artistic pictures as they passed, Pabbie finally settled on one, holding it out for her to take again.

The image on the page bore that of a young man - not much older than Elsa herself was, though couldn't tell properly since the picture was a drawing. Even so, there was something behind the depth of artistic ability that had been added in additional detail to his silver eyes that Elsa found deeply... Unsettling.

"You wouldn't have. He was nearly exiled during the medieval ages... But he's still around. More trouble than he is worth, I'm afraid."

But Elsa didn't have time to worry about Chronos the Guardian of Time. Instead, she focused her gaze back on Pabbie's face, attempting to keep her voice even when she spoke again; clutching the top of the book to her chest for comfort.

"Pabbie." The troll looked up to meet her vigorous train of stare. Her breathing hitched again, but she straightened out her shoulders to overcome it. "Pitch brought up visiting me regularly as a child. I was wondering if you knew anything about that."

Pabbie seemed to struggled for a little more than a few seconds, before finally exhaling, closing his eyes, and nodding.

"Yes... The king and queen - your mother and father - once visited me shortly after the princess' accident, claiming that you were having night terrors..." His eyes reopened, looking pained, like the recollection was too much for him to bear. "They knew that he would seek your powers, if he found out about them."

"My parents knew about Pitch Black?" Somehow, she had known it even without asking, but it still sent a thrill of chills wandering through her skin. Pabbie attempted to smile sympathetically when he nodded.

"Yes, your parents knew more than the general consensus of Arendelle did... It was one of the ultimate reasons that they took the steps to closing the castle off from the kingdom for thirteen years, in fear that Pitch might discover them through the mind of someone else. After I warned them, of course, that the Boogeyman would never leave you alone if he knew..."

Elsa held her breath, unable to hold her concentration when Pabbie had connected _Pitch _- of all people - to the reason that her mother and father had isolated themselves from Arendelle. The thought seemed to fit together like pieces of a gritty, impossible puzzle, but questions came to her mind hastily. _How _did they know about Pitch? And had they known what he was capable of? Just _how _long had the Nightmare King wanted to take Arendelle under his possession?

But eventually, the only words that she could settle on came out like a mindless blur.

"I... Didn't know that."

And at that, Pabbie smiled gently, reaching over to pat her cold hand.

"I expected you wouldn't. Your parents were very scared something could happen to you..." The queen's jaw clenched as a strange rattling in her chest filled up a voice of anger towards Pitch, but she stayed quiet to listen to him continue, even if she found herself silently vowing that she would eliminate the Nightmare King from doing anyone else harm. "But do not worry. You are more powerful than the Nightmare King, and he knows it. He will not truly challenge you until his powers have strengthened, otherwise he would have done so already."

The elderly troll cleared his throat. He paused, as if the next bit of his sentence was hard to admit to her. And when it came, Elsa found herself grow incredulous, looking up at him with a sharp stare.

"Until now, wait for the guardians. They will help you put a stop to all of it."

"You mean I cannot do anything to help?" The thought was impossible to fathom, especially since Pippa's face came to mind. The shadows underneath her eyes, the look of loss that had just begun to disappear after Jack's death... It was enough to send ice rupturing underneath Elsa's palms, which she tried to hide while pressing her hands down hard on her lap.

"I'm afraid not. In the aspect of fear, Pitch can be invincible. And I fear... He already has some control over Arendelle." Pabbie's voice was somber now. But Elsa was as obstinate as she had always been - growing determined to seek out Pitch's defeat, especially since her parents had been involved.

"I will not just stand idly by and watch while he torments and plays with everyone I know, Pabbie." Her words were cold and cutting, staring at the troll who tried to offer his condolences. Eventually, his stare found hers again, as if he no longer could offer her the advice that she sought now that she had decided on vengeance as her motivator.

"Then do what you must. But do not expect to come out triumphant if you seek him... You don't know what he is capable of, Queen Elsa." Pabbie spoke in an eerie voice that Elsa didn't find pleasing whatsoever, and her gaze swiftly dropped from his; turning her hands over to watch while the ice that had formed disappeared. "Do not put yourself into a risk, if you do anything at all."

Elsa didn't have the courage to look at him again. And instead, the young queen thought it was the opportune time to take her leave. She sighed, nodding softly at his comments - hoping that he might think that she believed in them - before offering him a separate smile that didn't touch her eyes.

"Thank you, Pabbie. This has been very helpful..."

"It is a pleasure to share my knowledge with you, my queen." Pabbie didn't make the effort to smile back at her, which Elsa's stomach to clench - especially when his cool words resumed. "But if I may, do you recall, fourteen years ago... When I told you that fear would be your enemy?"

Elsa nodded, but only once. Pabbie exhaled deeply, fingering through the book again until there was a portrait that had been made of the moon itself. But there was something ethereal about the drawing that Elsa couldn't describe.

"Then let me again remind you, that your power will only grow; even now. Keep that in mind, my dear. Man in the Moon has been looking over you since you were very young... And do not think that he has turned his back on you now that Pitch has marked his territory."

Struck to speechlessness, the young queen began to clamber out the chair. She was just about to thank him again, even if she didn't know what he meant about her power somehow growing stronger. But finally, the very last question on her mind - the one that she had told herself repeatedly _not _to ask - came slipping out of her mouth.

"Pabbie... One last question, before I leave." She turned her head, still hunching over in the hut as her heart began to pound loudly against her eardrums. There was a part of her that hoped that he wouldn't have the answer - but she _had _to know, even if the outcome would disappoint her. Ergo, Pabbie looked up with a pleasant smile.

"Yes?"

She swallowed hard, gritting her teeth together. But finally, she compelled herself to say it aloud.

"Who is Jack Frost?"

And the question hung in the air. Elsa could have counted the seconds, watching Pabbie's eyebrows soar up the span of his forehead. But finally...

"Jack Frost? The Guardian of Fun?"

Elsa could have sworn that her heart was plummeting deeply into her stomach, swearing that it was nothing more than a disbelief that Pitch had contrived, just to further frighten her... But when Pabbie's hand began to flip through the pages that belonged to the book of the guardians again, Elsa sunk closer to him to get a closer look at what he was trying to find.

"The spirit of the young man from Arendelle who died last year to save his sister... Ah yes, here he is. Jack Frost."

And there he was, drawn so elegantly on the page. He wre that mischievous, crooked grin that she remembered. But there were vast differences - his disheveled hair was painted snow white, eyes colored a bright indigo as opposed to bronze - and the Snow Queen struggled to breathe, overcome with the sight, even if she swore that it was nothing more than a good dream. She could barely focus on Pabbie's words as her fingers touched the top of the page. The tip of her forefinger traced over his brown poncho, the strange shaped staff held over his shoulder... And even the lack of shoes that she had taunted him about. And before Elsa knew it, an inch of a smile began to weigh down her lips at the thought and vision of him.

"I suspect you will be meeting him shortly as well. Although I should warn you... He is a bit _risky_, when it comes to dealing with the Boogeyman."

"Jack is alive?" Her eyes jumped from the book to look intently at Pabbie, thrill washing through her. She hadn't made the connection before. Were guardians - or Pitch Black, for that matter - really considered living beings...? If only those who believed in them could see them, especially?

Pabbie considered this, looking at her carefully as if he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Alive is perhaps not the best way to phrase it. But he is existent, if that is what you mean." But Elsa didn't say anything at all, as her stare further indulged in the painting of Jack Frost - never wanting to let it go. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Elsa cleared her throat, dropping her arm back down to her side when she realized just how foolishly she had been thinking, with the hopeful nature that Jack Overland could still be _existent_. "No, everything is... Everything is fine. Thank you again, Pabbie. You've been so helpful..."

She began to turn around, only looking back at the troll again when he made his best suggestions.

"Stay safe, Queen Elsa. Do what you can." Elsa managed to nod, despite that her thoughts were warped - unsure of what was real and what wasn't anymore. But even so, Pabbie's last words clung to her mind, meaning more to her than anything else could.

"And as for your late mother and father, my dear. They are so proud of you. Do not doubt that."

* * *

#commencescreeching

#muchexcitement  
#wow  
#veryjelsa  
#suchmystery

Let me know how you feel. This storm will be waiting.  
I need to rewatch Rise of the Guardians now in order to portray Bunny, Tooth, and North correctly. Give me a day or so.  
I PROMISE JACK NEXT CHAPTER.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:**  
OH MY OVERLAND. THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FAVORITES, AND FOLLOWS. You're all majestic individuals carved by angels out of a slab of sunshine. I also need to apologize for the thousands of typos that I had in the last chapter before I fixed most of them... For some reason I thought a chapter that was nearly six thousand words wouldn't need proofreading. I was um, very wrong... #Iamverystupid

And to **Ichigo-chan**, yes. Pitch wants ice dresses and castles for himself; he just wants to be as pretty as Elsa like everyone else. You're right. But no, I'm actually really glad you asked because Pitch's motive is supposed to be questioned right now. ;) I was going to include it in the chapter where he and Elsa met, but I didn't for some very valid reasons. Let's just say that he initially wanted to force Elsa to join sides with him, but now he has something better in mind. I promise you'll find out soon.

Also, a few things for the future of the story:  
1 - As promised, Jelsa will be together by the end.  
2 - A major character will die and yes there will be feels. Clues: It isn't a guardian nor is it Pitch.

I have tragedy in my veins. I blame George R. R Martin and Two Steps From Hell.  
(Also I have some problems spelling "Jamie Bennett" instead of "Jaime Bennett" like Jaime Lannister.)  
#TeamLannister  
#OhMyOverland  
#WhatDoWeSayToTheGodOfDeath, Jelsa?  
#NotToday

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter VI  
_

* * *

"Wow, you actually beat me this time!"

Within the Bennett household of Burgess, Pennsylvania, Jack Frost - the winter spirit, personification of said season - was indulging himself in relaxation for the first time in several months. That being said, he had been spending the last few weeks with his child friend Jamie Bennett, who had been teaching him how to play video games on a Friday night. The pair could be seen curled up on the floor of Jamie's bedroom, clutching the controllers to them while playing up on the screen above them to fight for the victory. Jack had never played anything so enthralling before in his life, but after more than a dozen failures, he'd finally managed to succeed in defeating the eleven-year-old champion of the fighting game. Which caused him to stand upright on his bare feet, throwing the controller up in the air in his triumph.

"Ha! That's right I did! I told you that I would beat you eventually!" He beamed, shooting a wide grin at the younger boy. "I'm always right, you know."

Jamie sat up to cross his legs, rolling his eyes at Jack's enthusiasm to announce his own victory.

"What if I told you that I was going easy on you?" The boy asked tauntingly, a toothy smile appearing on his face. Jack felt his own expressions crumble.

"Oh come on! You were not!" Jack exclaimed, but he was quick to jump back down to catch the controller again. "Alright, whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm going to _kill_ you this time, Bennett..."

"Ha, sure you are! That's what you've said the last hundred times that I beat you!"

"A _hundred_ times? You're exaggerating. Quit being so full of yourself, you're starting to sound a lot like Bunny..."

But just when the words had left his mouth, Jamie's mother had knocked at the closed bedroom door. Jack stayed carelessly where he was, staring up at the screen mildly when Jamie opened his mouth to tell her to come inside. Mrs. Bennett's eyes cast a wary look around the room, as if anticipating that someone else should be there. But when she couldn't see anyone, a little sigh came from her mouth and she shook her head, gaze landing firmly on her young son.

"Are you up late talking to Jack Frost again?" She asked, her tone humored. Jack waggled his eyebrows in her direction, even if she couldn't see him.

"He sure is, mom. He's _crazy_, better take him to the closest asylum as soon as possible." Even if Mrs. Bennett couldn't hear him, it made Jamie snort with laughter. And with revenge, he reached up to throw his paddle towards Jack's head, colliding playfully against his skull when it met its target.

"Yep... Just talking to Jack. Playing video games." Jamie insisted, reaching up to scratch his head. Jack shook his white hair out of his eyes, casting Jamie a scolding glance for throwing something at him. But the winter spirit had to admit that it was amazing that Jamie's mother hadn't considered therapy after all of the times she had caught Jamie talking to no one but "Jack Frost".

"Well, alright." Mrs. Bennett coincided gently, but then her expression grew slightly scolding. "But you need to go to bed soon, young man. We're going to visit your grandparents tomorrow, remember? You have to wake up early."

"Oh yeah." Jamie thunked his palm over his head, as if he couldn't believe that he had forgotten. "I forgot about that..."

"Lights out soon. Goodnight. Tell Jack I said hello." Mrs. Bennett cast her son a smile, eyes slowly tracing over where Jack's figure was momentarily - as if to check and see what the plastic controller had collided with - but she merely shook her head, as if deducing that she was imagining things, and shut the door behind her. However, as soon as she did, Jamie had reached over the top of his bed - hitting Jack hard in the face with his pillow.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Jack asked, rubbing his nose as his long slender legs stood up from his position on the floor. Jamie rolled his eyes again.

"For making stupid comments in front of my mom."

"You know you liked it..." Jack grumbled, stretching out his arms over his head. "Anyway, now that you've hit me with a pillow, I think it calls for a pillow fight. You brought it upon yourself." He jumped animatedly over on top of the bed, clutching one of the pillows to him with a wide grin while throwing it over his shoulder. "Bring it on, little man!"

Jamie laughed heartily, shaking his head at Jack's actions. But he didn't make the inclination to return the game - instead, the boy put the pillow down on bed, rearraging the sheets and the comforter.

"Sorry Jack, but you heard my mom... I gotta go to bed."

The words disheartened Jack, making his shoulders slump defeatedly. He jumped back down onto the floor, pillow still in hand until Jamie snatched it back to him with a grin.

"Oh, you do not, rules are made to be broken... I would know. I'm three hundred years old, remember?" Jack tried to convince the younger boy to stay awake for just little while longer, but Jamie was no longer able to persuade. As if his mother had someone zapped all of the willingness away when she had come to remind him to go to bed, somehow.

"Alright grandpa, a pillow fight it is." Jamie said at first. Jack's head perked up with excitement. "But not tonight, I don't want to wake Sophie up..."

"Oh, come onnnn...!" Jack pleaded, placing his hands on his waist again while watching as the boy rested himself into the bed; pulling his blankets up to his chin. "If you go to bed, who am I going to hang out with?!"

"I don't know. Do whatever you want." Jamie opened his mouth widely to yawn, but cut off in midair. "But hey, did you talk to North about that game I wanted for Christmas?"

Christmas was only two weeks away and Jamie had been prattling on and on about some new fantasy video game that he wanted for the holiday, begging Jack to ask Santa Claus himself for the gift. Of course, after the incident with Pitch Black the year before, Jack hadn't needed to speak to North himself about it. But he had tried regardless, offering the boy a playful nod of his head.

"Done and done." Jack answered, shooting him a grin of his own. "What are friends for?"

"Thanks Jack, you're the best." Jamie rolled over, rearraging his pillows before sinking his head into them with a tired sigh. "Anyway, try and be quiet... If you can do that, anyway."

Jack made a little half-scoff, half-laugh of his own.

"Yeah okay, I can see how grateful you are. Clearly." He spoke in a soft voice, purely teasing Jamie as he strolled over to where he had left his staff in the corner of the room. Once the staff was firmly grasped in his hand, he faced the window of the bedroom to unclasp the lock casually. When the window opened and the snowy wind greeted him, Jack stepped up onto the pane and looked around to shoot Jamie one last smile.

"Sleep tight, Jamie."

* * *

Sailing out through the blizzard ahead, Jack soared down through the city of Burgess until he hit main street, promptly landing on his bare feet. There were very few passersby on the roadway due to the heavy storm, but he eventually found what he was looking for - a little bakery on the south end of the city, which was closing up the shop as soon as Jack arrived. One of the younger bakers wearing an apron had begun to trot towards the glass door to lock it, but Jack pushed it open just in time - sending a harsh, blistering ice wind with it as he sauntered through the door and past the entryway to dodge the impending figure. The teenage boy slipped from the burst of sleet, landing hard on his backside. Jack laughed heartily, pulling his staff over his shoulder with a gleam of mischief in his eyes. But another man bearing a thick mustache had just walked out from the back of the bakery to see the incident - rolling his eyes at the sight.

"Really, Sam? You can't even handle locking the door on your own?" He asked, chuckling while Sam - the young man on the floor - scrambled back onto his feet, looking red with embarrassment.

"I don't even know what happened, the wind knocked me over or something..." Sam admitted gruffly, staring past Jack as his hands resumed to lock the deadbolt of the door. He peered through the windows at the brewing ice storm outside with a sigh. "It's looking really rough out there... The drive home is going to be fun."

"Yeah it will." Jack chimed in, thinking he might stick around to see how well Sam could drive in the snow.

"Or maybe it's that Jack Frost character..." Jack's head perked up at the sound of his own name. His eyes sought out to find the mustached man behind the counter of the bakery, wiping his hands on a paper towel. "All the kids in town believe in him. Said he saved Christmas last year or something..."

"Yeah, whatever... Let's just get this place closed up so I can go home..."

After shoving a bag full of sweets and pastries, Jack flew back into the sky and towards the Bennett house. With nowhere else to go, he glumly returned through Jamie's window, chewing at a cinnamon roll with no one to share his treats with. Jamie was sleeping soundly now, and even though Jack had considered waking him up, he decided against it while loneliness filled him whole; resting himself underneath the window while he basked in the glory of his sweets. Being alone hadn't been as disheartening as of late - since most of the children in Burgess could see him now - but there were times when he relapsed in the despair of not being seen. As a spirit, he didn't require sleep, but after finishing two of the pastries, he eventually leaned his head back against the wall behind him, closing his eyes while the shine from the moon up above fell upon his face. Relaxation lulled through his whole being, until finally, sleep overcame him.

* * *

But it was no less than a few hours later when the window had been opened again. Jack shook himself awake, looking around the dim room, but he was met with a hard kick against his head; pushing it sideways until it crashed against the wall. Murmuring a stream of swear words, he looked up to see who had deliberately forced him awake.

"Wake up and get dressed, pretty manprincess. Rise and shine."

It was Bunnymund, smirking down at Jack triumphantly. For a moment, Jack thought that he might have been dreaming. But after shaking his head several times, he eventually looked back up at the large rabbit and squinted through the darkness to get a better look at him.

"Bunny?" Jack asked slowly, narrowing his eyes at being disturbed from sleep - which was something he rarely did, unless in these cases, when he was bored. "What are you doing here?"

"Doesn't matter what I'm doing here, we have to get to the North Pole. Now." Bunny's voice was urgent now, gesturing with a nod of his head towards the open window. Jack sighed to himself, running a slender hand smoothly through his disheveled white hair.

"What, North asked you to come pick me up?" Jack countered, casting the Easter Bunny a crooked smirk of his own. "I'm flattered, really. Are you going to let me ride you through your bunny tunnels? I don't think I can fly, I'm too _tired_..."

"Very funny, Frost." Bunny murmured, sounding annoyed while nudging his large furry foot against Jack's chest. "Come on, get up. It's urgent, we have to go."

But Jack didn't move another muscle, looking up through his haze of sleepiness, hoping that whatever the guardians needed him for truly wasn't of valid importance as Bunny insisted. Surely, it could wait until tomorrow... Even so, as he tried to close his eyes again, Bunny's foot came striking into his skull again. And by that time, Jack finally pulled himself onto his feet and straightened out his hoodie, casting the Easter figure a scowl.

"Oh c'mon, it's my time off... The snow's been delivered all around, I need my rest now..."

"Oi, I wouldn't come here if it wasn't an emergency." Bunny continued, in a voice that sounded worried now as he finally rested on the conclusion that Jack would deem important. "It's Pitch, Jack."

"_Pitch_?!" Jack's voice sounded strangled, as his indigo eyes opened wide and alert to look hard at Bunny. "But we haven't even heard anything from him in a year!"

"Oh good, you know how to count the months. Such a genius..." Bunny blathered sardonically, making the effort to roll his eyes when his arms folded over his chest. But every word that came out of his mouth after that made Jack realize the new situation wasn't anything that either of them should be taking lightly. "Yes, he's back. And it's unpleasant news to say the least... We've nearly lost all of the lights in Europe in just the last few days."

Jack felt himself exhale, shaking his head while rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Frustration filled him whole at the news, especially since he had been counting on not seeing the Boogeyman again for a very long time. But he didn't bother cutting in while Bunny continued, sounding rather enraged himself.

"North didn't think it was anything at first, you know how kids are, so fickle about believing in us every once in a while, but now they've all gone in just a few days." Bunny paused, meeting Jack's gaze with a hardened stare. "And it's getting worse, spreading to other countries like a wildfire."

A heavy silence fell between the two guardians. Jack took the new information in steadily, knowing the seriousness of it all, but unsure of what to make of it until he knew everything. But just when he was about to suggest that the two of them headed to the North Pole, Bunny was making the effort to chuckle humorously.

"So let's go, manprincess. There's a lot we need to cover..."

The tall, broad shouldered bunny began to make his way out the window. Jack reached out to bring his fist around his staff that he had left on the floor beside him - shooting one last look at Jamie - before slipping out onto the roof of the Bennett home shortly after. He closed the window behind him as the spirits joined on the roof ahead. But the cold drift of wind that tousled Bunny's fur was not anything that he was happy about, shivering while holding his arms closer to his body and shooting Jack a glare.

"Dammit, it's cold... Can you even consider making it above zero degrees for once in your life?"

"Nah, never." Jack retorted, smirking as he held his staff out in front of him. He gave Bunny an amused, challenging glance. "I'll race you to the North Pole. We'll see who's faster. Loser has to kiss Sandy."

Bunny lifted his shoulders up proudly, as if there was nothing he would want to do more than beat the Guardian of Fun at a race around the world.

"Ha, you're on."

* * *

Being aerodynamic was - without a doubt - Jack's favorite part of being a guardian. He pushed himself harder through the sky than he ever had before, rushing through the wind and passing continents at a speed where no one would be able to see him even if they believed in the spirit that was Jack Frost. And as the Guardian of Fun skyrocketed through the sky with only the intent of beating the Easter Bunny at a race, he finally recognized the red Russian Palace that belonged to Santa Claus himself. He began propelling himself down into the powdered snow of the North Pole to mark his victory, but just as he did so, a familiar digging figure began to emerge from the ground. In which case, Jack pushed himself farther until he landed onto his feet, barely making it seconds before Bunny had arrived.

"Well, well... Look at that." Jack gloated, grinning at his own victory. Bunny shot him a cold stare when Jack reached out to nudge him. "Better start learning how to pucker up now... I can ask Tooth to teach you, if you'd like."

"Yeah right."

* * *

Jack attempted to shake the snow out of his hair when they arrived in the palace, surprised some when the elves instantly greeted the two guardians. They pointed them towards the Nerve Center of North's workshop, where eventually Bunny (who wasn't speaking to Jack now that he had lost their race) and Jack were reunited with a waiting Nicholas St. North and Toothiana. Both of which looked happy to see him. Tooth flew upwards to rush at him with a gigantic embrace that nearly knocked Jack over, but he laughed all the same to return the friendly gesture.

"Ah, Jack, good to see you, lad." North spoke directly, but his smile was brought on by force. An action that made Jack look around confused, when Tooth landed softly beside him. There was tension in the room, Jack could sense it, especially when he looked back at the Tooth Fairy again, he saw that none of them were smiling. And as his bright indigo eyes began to swerve around the royal area - looking up at the Globe of Belief briefly to examine the damage done. A few lights flickered over the European continent, but they were growing dimmer. Jack felt his stomach and teeth clench simultaneously, turning his attention back to North solely when he realized that there was a guardian missing from the reunion.

"Where's Sandy?" He asked, voice a little more than a whisper, fearing that Pitch might have already done something to the Guardian of Dreams.

Silence ruptured through the auditorium. For some reason, Jack felt like every stare was on him, as if they were afraid to tell him something... And that made Jack's jaw clench harder, wondering what it might be.

"Listen Jack, there's... Quite a bit that we have to tell you." North started slowly, bringing his arms down to his sides. But he at least had the decency to look at Jack while he was speaking.

"Like what?" The question left Jack's lips before he had even known he had asked it.

North sighed, pacing around the globe. He closed his blue eyes, reaching up to bring his hand up to rub his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. Jack felt the seconds tick, awaiting the moment when North would speak up again. And when he finally did, Jack nearly choked at how fictional it sounded.

"First off, Pitch has... Managed to time travel."

"_Time travel_? Are you kidding?" He interjected, rolling his staff over his shoulder as he stared around at each of the other guardians. But none of them added anything else to the matter. "How is that even possible?"

"It's not a joke." North's voice was curt now, looking up at the missing lights from Europe. His gaze was tender and longing. Yet every word that he spoke thereafter made Jack's mind spin; unable to take in all of the new information all at once. "He was given a portal sphere from the Guardian of Time. Sandy went off on his own to try and stop it - you know, he can move through time on his own through the memories and dreams of children - but we haven't heard anything back from him in days."

"Wait, wait, hold on..." Jack cut North off, pulling his staff back down at the new concept: another guardian, that he had known nothing about until this moment, despite that he had been the winter spirit for three hundred years. "Guardian of Time? You mean there's another guardian that I don't know about? When were you guys gonna tell me that?"

Tooth was the one who piped in now, still beside Jack. But it seemed like she didn't want to talk about the Guardian of Time whatsoever, as if she was too afraid to do so. Her almond-shaped eyes jumped back between North, Bunny, and Jack before finally settling on the floor while her hands clasped together in front of her.

"We weren't trying to keep things from you." She remarked softly. And while normally Jack was fond of Tooth, he felt like he had been purposefully pried away from the information regardless if they tried to tell him otherwise.

"Suuure..." He murmured skeptically. Tooth's gaze wandered up to look at him rigidly, and that was when he saw it: she _was _scared.

"Look, Jack, it's nothing personal. Really, we just... We were worried that Chronos would try and manipulate you if we told you about him." Her voice was so small that if Jack hadn't been concentrating so hard on what she was saying, he might not have heard it at all.

"Well where is he?" Jack asked, looking around North's workshop. He half anticipated that the guardian would appear at any given moment, but he never did. And finally, it was Bunny's turn to answer; his voice sounded amused.

"Locked away, underneath the North Pole. He's been there for a while, try several hundred years." Bunny's explanation came with another smirk, sighing as he finished. "Such a bugger, though; he deserves it."

But by then, Jack was staring at the other guardians with a look of incredulity.

"You guys _locked _him away?!" His voice was exasperated, gazing between the faces, shocked that none of them looked sorry about what had been done. "He's a prisoner?! Isn't that against our moral code, or whatever?!"

North sighed, casting the large, spinning globe one last feeble glance before he turned to gaze at Jack again.

"It was not our choice, it was Manny's." North reflected deeply. But his silver eyebrows furrowed together, a frown line appearing between them. "Listen Jack, before you became a guardian during the Dark Ages, Chronos became obsessed with his own powers as a guardian. It was originally his job to make sure that time was never interrupted, altered, or ruined by Pitch - or sometimes, save children who were on the brink of death." A strange chill made its way down Jack's neck, but he fought to keep his expression flat; staring at North while the other guardians looked him over, awaiting his reaction to the story. "But he was consumed with the human life that he lived before his guardianship. And that was what made him turn on us, and Manny."

Jack looked away uneasily, wondering what kind of life Chronos the Guardian of Time could have lived before becoming a guardian, but he surmised that - at least - the guy had still had his human memories, while Jack had only seen brief flashes of his mother and younger sister back in Arendelle. But even so, he couldn't imagine being angry at the Man in the Moon. Not enough to get thrown into imprisonment, for whatever he had done...

"Well what'd he do?" Jack broke himself out of his trance to ask, curiosity tingling him. North exhaled deeply again, as if recalling that time was difficult for him - like there had been many mistakes made that he was not proud of. But Tooth and even Bunny cast the same expression amongst one another.

"He joined forces with Pitch. And they nearly succeeded together... It was bad times, Jack; awful." North rested himself down to sit just beneath the globe, pressing his arms over his knees as he came to the conclusion of Chronos' betrayal.

"Pitch started taking people over. Adults along with children, since his belief was so strong at the time that he could force them into a trance and manipulate them into doing his bidding. He had them do awful things to the people that they loved... Many people died, Jack; outright murdered. By those that they loved and trusted, all because Pitch had driven them to do it."

A shaky breath left Jack intuitively, taking him aback by the information that had been presented to him. Melancholy filled the room whole, and even though Jack hadn't been a guardian at the time, he knew why. Guardians were designated to protect not only children, but anyone who believed in them. And if anyone had died, then they had once failed. And that was not something that Jack felt that he could live humbly with, if he had been involved with the situation. But thankfully, he wasn't, which caused his inquiries to grow.

"How did you guys defeat him?"

"It was Manny." North finally shed a smile, looking up at where the moon could be scene vividly over the ceiling. "We never would have been able to do it without him."

Jack looked up at the moon as well, pacing through the atrium. But his train of thought and wonder ended when North resumed where he had left off.

"But Man in the Moon's punishment towards Chronos was far worse in the end." His gaze averted into a narrow stare, bringing a hand up to brush through his long beard. "We were asked to lock him up and use all of our powers to keep him imprisoned. And he's been there ever since..."

"Until now? When he made a portal to bring Pitch into the past?" Jack blinked at the prospect, wondering why Pitch hadn't tried such a thing before in the hundreds of years that the Guardian of Time had been incarcerated.

"Well, he's still there..." North mused, resting his chin against his palm. There was a worried look in his eyes now, when they met Jack's face. "Pitch was after someone, Jack... Someone from Arendelle."

"Arendelle?" Jack nearly choked on the word that he hadn't heard in hundreds of years. It had been his own country, the only place that had confined his memories. The few that he'd managed to see himself, anyway... "But Arendelle was destroyed years ago - "

"We know." North started again uneasily, taking in a deep breath and holding it there momentarily. "And I fear to say that it was on Pitch's doing that it was lost."

"It was Pitch's fault?" Jack whispered, his eyes wide as he looked around and over his shoulder at Bunny and Tooth, hoping one of them would say that it wasn't true.

"The future of Arendelle is not a bright one." North's voice was gentle, but it didn't stop Jack from feeling another row of everlasting rage towards the Nightmare King. His fist clamped hard around the handle of his staff, cracks of ice etching over the wooden surface at the touch and flare of emotions that roared through him. It was only when North mentioned the Sandman that he felt a sliver of hope for the situation up ahead.

"Sandy sent a message last night saying that Pitch's motives had changed. He was originally looking for the Snow Queen, but he has since changed his mind."

Jack's thoughts only settled on one image in mind then at the words "Snow Queen". A young woman who had been the Queen of Arendelle, adorning an ice dress... He had nearly forgotten about her in all of the years since Arendelle's destruction, never bothering to revisit the memory unless it was on coincidence. So hearing the words that matched up with her appearance and powers caused Jack's mouth to open at once.

"The Snow Queen?" Jack repeated the name, tilting his head. "You mean the lady who had powers like mine?"

North and Tooth both looked confused, staring back and forth to one another.

"You knew her?" Bunny asked, after the flurry of silence ended due to temporary confusion.

"No, I... I didn't know her." Jack backtracked, straining his brain to remember her. It was such a tiny recollection within a vast number of three hundred years that he could hardly recall the scene, let alone what her name was. Not even a clear vision of her face came to mind, despite that he tried to remember.

"I only met her once. Well, I saw her, and followed her for a little while since I thought maybe she could help me remember who I was, but... She couldn't see me. And then when I came back to Arendelle, it was gone. Nothing but ruins." Jack brought his staff over his shoulder again, closing his eyes and tightening them; as if that might have helped him remember. But it didn't, so in the end, he opened his eyes and huffed with frustration. "So wait, you mean to say... Pitch was the one who... Who killed everyone?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that the unknown question of Arendelle's tragic past has finally caught up to us now." North cleared his throat, appearing to have regained some of his prior cheery self when he stood up from his position beneath the globe.

"But how?" Jack asked, feeling naive the longer that his questions pursued; as if he suddenly had no knowledge whatsoever. "How did he know about the Snow Queen?"

"That, my boy, might be explained best by Tooth." North crossed his burly arms, nodding at the Tooth Fairy, as if to try and give her some confidence. Jack thought that she looked like she needed it too, even if he felt his stomach pinch uncertainly at where the conversation was going when it involved him somehow.

"Your human memories, Jack... The ones he took from you last year..." Tooth's voice was a little more than a pathetic croak, sounding like this was the very last thing that she wanted to mention to Jack. Her eyes refused to meet him, as if she blamed herself for what had happened the following winter. "You didn't get all of them. Pitch took a number of them out. It's the only explanation since you were the one who lived in Arendelle. Your memories were the only ones he was interested in, to try and break you..."

A second flash of anger ripped through Jack's senses, causing the winter spirit to grip his staff harder while he struggled to compose the fury, breathing hard through his teeth. Tooth barely murmured an apology.

"I'm so sorry."

"So you're saying that I knew her, when I was a human?" Jack drew the assumption, turning his back on the guardians while running a free hand through his hair; fisting it between his fingers.

"We don't know whether or not you knew her, though it is likely. Only that you were aware of her powers, and Pitch saw that through your memories." North piped in again, sounding informative. Jack wondered if it was because they were no longer mentioning what had occurred during the Dark Ages of Pitch's nightmare regime.

"Then it's my fault this is happening?"

His question hung in the air, but Tooth gave out a little gasp from behind him.

"No, we're not saying that!" She insisted breathlessly. Jack looked over his shoulder at her, watching her shake her head in disbelief. "Not at all! Jack, your memories were stolen, there was nothing that you could have done!"

But finally, Jack spun around to face them again, feeling grave as ice continued to crackle over his staff. His shoulders felt stiff as his posture straightened out, narrowing his stare.

"And how have you guys not known about Arendelle's destruction before?" His tone was accusing, if not accidentally so. "I mean, there was no logical explanation for it? Man in the Moon didn't tell you what he was going to do?"

"Time is unpredictable, Jack." North went on to explain, casting the winter spirit a blank look. "It changes every day. And there was no knowing that Pitch could have made that outcome... It's always been a mystery until now."

"We always had an idea, mate..." Bunny finally spoke up. Jack glanced at him, noting his folded arms and hardened stare. "But we aren't humans, Jack; humans have multiple options to change the future. Guardians or spirits such as ourselves are only granted one, and Pitch is the same. Whatever decisions we make to fight against Pitch and save Arendelle, it will be risky without changing everything about the future." The Guardian of Hope then frowned, looking back up at the globe. "We don't know what we're getting ourselves into."

"Bunny is right." North's voice was gruff, lips pursing together. "We have to be careful. Since there are no multiple dopplegangers of ourselves from the past, some of us will have to stay here to make sure that we don't cross paths with the decisions we made in the past."

"But I have to go, don't I?" Jack's eyebrows raised, knowing what the answer would be. But even so, he felt the tiniest jerk pull at the corner of his mouth. Anticipation and excitement had returned to him at the idea that he would be able to bring Pitch Black down again. That was something that he would never get tired of. Bunny noticed his expression change at once, muttering something under his breath with a chuckle.

"Yes... Manny asked for you specifically." North managed to smile, nodding in Tooth's direction. "Tooth and I are going to stay here. Since Christmas is just in a few days and she has regular duties to attend, you'll go with Bunny to try and find Sandy."

"But how will three guardians be enough, if Pitch is taking over an entire country?" There was no doubt that Pitch had nearly defeated each of them last year. And if it hadn't been for Jamie, the guardians would have been in ruin. So didn't they need all of them there, especially if he was growing stronger by the hour...?

North bowed his head, as if afraid of where his next answer was going.

"That's... Where things are going to get complicated."

"Why?" Jack studied North, holding his breath and mentally bracing himself for whatever was about to come.

"Because... Manny has also requested that Chronos comes along with you."

* * *

#CLIFFHANGER?!

Long chapter of dialogue. I hope this explains some thiiinnnnngsssss... We will have action soon. Adios, Jelsators.  
Oh, and if Tooth, North, or Bunny are being portrayed badly, let me know. lololol.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes**:  
(Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows. I know I always say it, but I'm really grateful.)  
This chapter is going to be short. FJhwufhwuef... I'm so sorry. Chronos will be um, very fun. I'm excited to see what y'all make out of him. But I'll spend the rest of this answering your guys' questions and comments. Also, I was going to try and get this out last night but I became disastrously ill. My apologies, hopefully I get better soon. I planned on making this really long, but now that I'm sick, I just can't. Better something than nothing, right?

**Frozen Fate**: You have no idea how hard I laughed at your comment about Bunny...! Poor Sandy, being used as the outcome of a race. ;)

**Nefarious Seraph 13**: I haven't read the Guardians of Childhood series, but I've investigated it. I kinda want to read it, is it good? And no, I didn't know Jack's eyes had snowflakes in them...! MIND BLOWN. Maybe that'll be referenced in a future chapter. ;D

**x Cheetah x** and **Ichigo-chan: **I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU WHO IT IS! That'll spoil everything!

**someleagueplayer: **The update is right here. ;) I try to update on a daily basis but sometimes it takes me a little longer. I write pretty quick; gotta a lotta Slytherin ambition. I finished Summer Shudder in a month exactly; let's see how long it takes me to finish this one.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter 7  
_

* * *

"Wait, really?"

Jack was the one to pipe in first, turning around to grin encouragingly at the other guardians when North had finally mentioned that the Guardian of Time would be joining them. But none of them looked particularly pleased about the new recommendation - especially not Bunny, who cast a wide-eyed glance at North, as if he couldn't believe what he was being told.

"Uh, no. No, no, no. This was _not _in the job description...!" Bunny mumbled, shaking his head stubbornly multiple times. The response was answered by a sigh of North's, who offered the Easter Bunny a scolding stare.

"Bunnymund..." The burly Russian guardian placed his hands on his waist, like there was nothing else that could be done. "Manny has decided."

But that did not at all soothe Bunny's conscience, before he was reaching up to press both of his ears down over the top of his head in frustration.

"Why?!" He growled, looking back and forth between Tooth and Jack - looking for either of them to oppose to the idea as much as he did. "After what he's done and still continues to do?! This wouldn't even be happening if he hadn't given Pitch the time loop that he wanted!"

"I didn't say we were letting him go." North clarified in a stern voice, narrowing his eyes some. "He will be taken as a prisoner. But we need him to get you and Jack to Arendelle. There is no other way."

Bunny shook his head firmly several times, clearly not about to give in to the instructions any time soon.

"I'm not carrying him around like a prisoner. No way. He can give us a portal just like he gave Pitch."

But then it was Jack's turn to pipe in, feeling genuinely humored at where the situation had gone; even if he didn't know how dangerous it was about to become. The Guardian of Fun shredded the distance between himself and Bunny in a single glide from his staff, landing potently on his feet.

"What's wrong, Honey Bunny?" He grinned, reaching out to pat Bunny on his ears. "Scared of a big bad guardian?"

The action warranted Bunny to smack his hand away, turning to shoot Jack a very grave frown. He held one finger out, like an adult reprimanding a child when he faced Jack again.

"Oi, don't taunt me, you haven't met him." Bunny murmured in a cool voice, green eyes looking searchingly back at Tooth to find her defense. "Tooth can tell you - he ate her fairies whole!"

The thought caused Jack to take a step back, blinking at the thought that anyone would willingly harm any of the Tooth Fairy's faithful minions - let alone _eat _them. But one mention of such an abhorrent example had Tooth pressing her hands into her face, as if it was the last memory that she wanted to be reminded of.

"Please don't bring that up again... I don't even want to see him." Tooth pleaded softly. Bunny backtracked immediately, as if he might have regretted mentioning it whatsoever. North was the one who cleared his throat after the awkward silence thereafter, luckily.

"You won't, Tooth... Don't worry." He promised in a soothing voice, reaching out to clap Tooth over the shoulder with his big hand. Tooth managed to crack a small smile at being reassured, but Jack's own impulsive voice was quick to bring the topic back into perspective due to his own curiosity...

"He _ate_ your fairies?"

_"Jack_!" North and Bunny spoke coolly in synchronization together, offering Jack a reprehended expression of their own.

"Sorry, just wondering..." Jack held his hands up innocently, before swiftly rolling his staff over in his hands and throwing it sharply over his shoulder. He shot each of the guardians a nod of determination, grin growing cheeky when as anticipation washed through him. "Anyway, let's get going. I want to give Pitch another piece of my mind."

Just when he had been about to trek out of the Nerve Center however, Bunny cut his destination off with a scoff.

"Don't get cocky, manprincess." He warned reproachfully, folding his arms over his torso.

"Why not? I've learned from the best, haven't I?" Jack jested, looking back at the Guardian of Hope with a crooked smile. Bunny opened his mouth to retort, but North waved his arm in front of them. He looked much grimmer than Jack had ever seen him before, making the white-haired young man take a step back in recognition - just _what _had Pitch done so far to cause the jolliest character in the world to lose his composure?

"Enough, we're wasting time. Every minute we lose, Pitch is getting stronger." His eyes wandered briefly over Jack and Bunny, before they landed on Tooth with severe genuinity. "Tooth, feel free to go now, if you feel that you must."

It was perhaps the first time that Jack had truly seen Tooth look so uneasy, even when her fairies had been kidnapped the year prior. And for the slimmest second, he held the desire to reach out for her, to reassure the Guardian of Memories that it was going to okay, but just when he thought about doing so - the motion slipped from him. Slow realization slipped into his senses, making him recognize that even he didn't know the danger up ahead. And when Tooth came at him with another embrace to wish him good luck, there were tremors in her arms that Jack felt - wishing that he knew why a shock of terror began to fester down the back of his spine when he touched her.

* * *

Thereafter, North led a begrudged Bunny and Jack into the elevator. Minutes passed in silence as the floors fell beneath them. Jack observed the others behind a weathered gaze, wishing that he knew what they were thinking. But he made no additional effort to make commentary, before the doors opening and North was leading them into a dungeon. Blinking, Jack felt a cool open air from the North Pole ripple against his hair. Bunny began shivering beside him, looking back and forth anxiously. Until finally, they were met with the cellar designed to detain a guardian. Jack kept his distance, staring at the bars ahead with curiosity - feeling like if he gave them one touch of his own, he might not live to tell about it. Subsequently, he wasn't given a very long time to examine them, before a figure began emerging from the shadows of the cellar.

Chronos was tall, bearing the appearance of a young man; Jack thought that he looked like he had wolvish features even before he had been made a guardian. His eyes were a ghostly silver, approaching the bars and his visitors with a worn down smile. His hair was long and garnet colored, consumed with the apparent grime that he had lived in for several hundred years - a fact that he bore in testimony to the rags he adorned over his flesh. Jack stared at him curiously, having been expecting someone who looked much older. But he didn't say anything at all - none of them did, they didn't have the chance to so before the Guardian of Time outstretched his arms towards them, as if he might have hugged them if it weren't for the cellar blocking his intentions.

"Oh, my dear brothers, I thought you would be coming for me at last." His voice was deep, yet polite, resonating in a French accent. His pale-eyed stare wandered back between the three accusingly; placing one hand over his heart, as if he was emotionally hurt. "But where ever is Toothiana...? I was hoping to see her again..."

Jack shot an uneasy, sideways glance at North and Bunny; pleased when it was the Guardian of Wonder who answered, especially since he thought that Bunny might snap if Chronos said anything else.

"Tooth has returned to Punjam Hy Loo. You will not be seeing her." North answered sternly. His hands began wandering down to the pockets of his red and black coat, rummaging around for something inside. Jack suspected it must have been the pair of keys keeping the Guardian of Time a prisoner, but his indigo eyes latched back onto Chronos' face again when the guardian began to speak.

"Ah... Such a shame, I've missed her." He pouted, before he looked back at Bunny; wearing a mischievous, darkened smile that stretched widely over his bony face. A vein at the corner of his skull grew tight and prominent underneath his skin when the smile came to his mouth. "What's the scowl for, chinchilla? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Nothing, ginger. Long time, no see." Bunny twitched at the word "chinchilla", but otherwise, kept himself calm as he tilted his head in recognition. "Tell me, does the carpet still match the drapes?"

"Now is not the time for arguing." North grumbled, sounding as if his patience was growing very thin. Jack laughed, spinning his staff over his shoulder.

"Aw come on, I was enjoying myself." He grinned lightly, turning to wink at Bunny. But he wished that he wouldn't have - because the wolf-faced guardian suddenly had his eyes on him, getting as close to the bars that he could without being burned, to give him a look over for the first time. It was as if he hadn't noticed Jack had been there whatsoever until he had spoken up... A thought that made Jack on alert intuitively, feeling his hand jerk over the handle of his staff while staring down at the silver eyes that gleamed within the darkened cell.

"Ah, Jack Frost. Finally, we meet at last." Chronos greeted him civilly, pacing in front of the dungeon, wearing a smile over his thin lips. At first, Jack vowed not to say anything at all to him, until his next words caused him to nearly double take.

"I've been watching you from my cellar periodically for the last three hundred years... You sure are something else, aren't you?"

"Wait, hold up, you _watched _me?" Jack asked in disbelief. His eyebrows flied up the span of his forehead at the thought, wondering what the guardian could possibly know about him. Chronos chuckled, nodding once as he placed he folded his arms over his skeletal torso.

"As the Guardian of Time, I can see anyone that I would like during any period of generation." He tilted his head, causing the dirty red layers of hair to sop over part of his face. It startled Jack, to think that someone could bear so much knowledge, but he held his ground; straightening out his shoulders as his eyes intensified on the prisoner. But Chronos' gaze continued to glint back at Jack like a hungry flame, gesturing at Bunny and North with his shoulders. "Didn't these blokes tell you that? Or were they too busy telling you how _awful _I am?"

Jack was about to answer, but anything that he'd had to say vanished when he heard the sound of the cellar door opening. It creaked and rattled from abandonment as North turned the key of the lock, entering the dungeon and shutting it behind him in a single, swift motion. Chronos' eyebrows lifted, but he didn't look surprised otherwise when North entered the vault with him.

"Oh, you're letting me out? What's the occasion?" He asked tauntingly. Jack continued watching carefully behind the dungeon bars, half-expecting that Chronos would find a way to escape before North managed to get the chains on him. But when North had summoned the long train of handcuffs out of midair, Chronos was surprisingly diligent - Jack supposed it was because he hadn't left the prison underneath the North Pole in hundreds of years. The imprisoned guardian even held his arms out to North, who looked as equally confused as Jack felt, before clasping the bounds over Chronos' hands. The chain attached to the silver cuffs were more like a leash, but even so, Jack could tell that contained massive power to keep Chronos detained.

"Chronos, you've been asked by Manny to help restore Arendelle and defeat Pitch." North looked up, taking the end of the bounds between his hands; luring the guardian out of the cellar. Chronos didn't at all look surprised by the news, especially when North finished them. "Starting with taking these two there."

"Really? Well, I can't say that I'm disappointed... It _has _been a long time of being your prisoner." Chronos lifted one red eyebrow, casting Bunny a dark smirk. Consequently, Jack did not fail to notice the fact that the Guardian of Time was peering around the outside of the dungeon - as if looking for any chance that he might have to escape, even if his powers were confined.

"Funny joke, dingo. We're not letting you go." Bunny insisted, appearing to have regained his sense of humor now that Chronos was being led around on a leash.

"Bunnymund is right." North answered professionally, gesturing down at the long rows of linked iron with fondness. "You'll be chained in these, which will limit your powers with the exception of time traveling. Jack and Bunny will be keeping you under their belt to make sure you don't escape."

"I'm being babysat?!" Chronos exclaimed, anger rippling over his features - making him look far more like an a vicious carnivore animal than Jack had thought before. But eventually, he sighed and rolled his eyes; allowing to be dragged further down the hallway of the dungeon and back in front of Bunny and Jack. "_Fine_. But the least you three could have done was invite Toothiana..."

"Bunny, will you do the honors?" North seemed to be ignoring any commentary that Chronos made about Tooth in general, as he held the shambles out to Bunny. Subsequently, the Guardian of Hope pushed them away, shaking his head indignantly at them.

"No way, mate. Jack can take that, I don't want to be anywhere this guy." Bunny growled, shooting Chronos a dark scowl. North gave another gruff exhale, handing the chains out to Jack.

"Jack?"

"Yeah, whatever, I'll do it..." Jack murmured, taking the cool iron between his hands when the burden had been given to him. Chronos looked delighted at the sight, shooting him a smile that showed all of his teeth.

"Oh good, I was hoping that we would be able to get to know each other." He clanked the chains until they hit the ground, sending a dull sound emitting through the dungeon when they impacted with the cement.

"Now remember, when you three get there - try to find Sandy first." North shot a meaningful look at Bunny and Jack both, keeping his stare trained on them both. Regardless, Jack drank the words in, tying the length of the shackles over his hands. "Don't provoke Pitch. It'll be better if he doesn't know that you're there."

Chronos laughed again, higher than ever as he threw his head back.

"Pitch will know we're there as soon as we arrive. Don't kid yourselves, he's been waiting for you."

"Probably because _you _told him, Garfield." Bunny grunted accusingly. Chronos simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't tell him anything, I've been incarcerated, remember?" His silver eyes flickered from Bunny, to North, and then back to Jack again. "I surmise that you all underestimate the Nightmare King, just like you always have."

By now, Bunny looked intolerant, as though he was ready to thrust a fist into Chronos' head if he heard another word come out of his mouth.

"And it doesn't look like you're going to be released any time soon if you keep talking like that." His eyes narrowed, gesturing towards the elevator. "Come on, North, Jack... Let's get this over with..."

But just when Jack had begun following North's lead, Chronos had gripped him around the shoulder. He tried to pry away, only looking back in time to see that Bunny had been grasped by the guardian as well. Attempting to shrug his staff from his shoulder desperately, Jack felt panicked when a rush of whirlwind began to collect from around the three of them; a _portal_. And one sound could be uttered, before Jack felt his body being sucked into the air, whether he liked it or not.

"Don't worry. I have this all under control, my sweet brothers. I hope you didn't need to say goodbye to anyone..."

Jack thought that he heard Bunny utter an enraged stream of swear words at the sound of Chronos' promise, but even when he tried to look back to find North, the dungeon, or Bunny, only the feeling of being thrust into the past could overtake his actions. His stomach churned in all directions as his feet were pulled from underneath him, heart pounding ruthlessly against his ribs as thrashing air whirled against him... Only a stream of white, tossing him back and forth could be seen when he pledged to keep his mind open through the seconds of passing through time. But eventually, even Jack couldn't take the feeling of being enclosed and shoved through a tiny opening; tugging his eyes shut as his breath left him.

* * *

Until finally, there was a feeling of cool air and green grass beneath him; staff landing next to his side. Jack struggled to compose himself as he pulled himself back up onto his feet, barely able to make out what was in front of him as he clutched the iron chains in his grasp. His head spun and his vision blurred, taking in the familiar scent of summer air that blew at the back of his neck. The way that his ears popped made him realize that they were now somewhere of high altitude, but he couldn't straighten out his sight to see much in front of him as his head pounded.

"Dammit, you... I think I'm going to be sick."

It was Bunny's voice again that brought Jack's senses back into his foresight. He blinked rapidly, looking down to find where Bunny had fallen, looking particularly ill on his position in the grass. Jack attempted to take a step forward, but nearly tripped when he did so; noting now that the three of them had been teleported on a hillside.

"Where are we?" Jack asked, squinting as he peered out to see in front of him. The warmth of the sun from above made it difficult to focus, but he tried his best; attempting to ignore Chronos' sarcastic response when he spun around to find the guardian, sitting upright on the ground with his legs crossed expectantly.

"The North Mountain, I thought it might be familiar to you, of all people... Clearly I was wrong."

And that was when Jack finally retained his sense of direction again. He stared hard, forcing his blurred sight to fade until he was finally able to make out certain landmarks that he had forgotten long ago... Only when he saw the majestic, sculptor of the castle and large body of ocean did he know for certain... And the words that then left him were purely astonished, as he clambered forward uncoordinatedly to get a better look at the country that he had left behind...

"We're in Arendelle."

* * *

#OhMyOverland  
#QueenofCliffhangers?  
#YourEyesAreTooSadForSomeoneSoBeautiful

Sorry sorry sorry. Like I said, I wanted to make this longer but I am so, so, so sick. Like I can't even sit up. I forced myself to get this out... There will be a Jack and Elsa reunion next update though? If that makes you not want to kill me yet.

Love you guys. Jelsa reunion next chapter. More Chronosisms to come.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes**:  
I love when y'all ask me when I'm going to update again. Like, I'm a super loser who updates almost daily, actually. ;) Big ideas, lots to do. Thank you guys again for the favorites, reviews, and follows and the get well wishes. Always appreciated; thank you, thank you. I feel much better today.

**LilMate **I said "Chronosisms"...! Though Chronosgasms works too. It might be Pippa, might be Elsa, might be Anna... You'll see~~

**Nefarious Seraph 13 **I might have to buy them, then. After I finish reading A Song of Ice and Fire! And those Jack Frost eyes, man... Oh myyyy.

**Bigby the Big Bad Wolf **Chronos will get what's coming to him, I'll promise that. I'm glad he's illiciting angry feelings from someone. ;) But he's not done being a lil shet yet.

I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU GUYS WHO DIES! That's a secret and I have big plans for the end. After I finish developing Jack and Elsa's relationship... :3 Sorry that they aren't going to fall in love after two seconds of knowing each other.  
#ThisIsn'tTwilight  
#JelsaIsBetterThanEdwardandBella  
#SorryXavierSamuel  
#IStillLoveYouThough

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter VIII  
_

* * *

Once the country of Arendelle was in his foresight, Jack couldn't look away when he took steps closer over the hill of the North Mountain to get a better visual grasp at the country below. His indigo eyes stared straight over the harbor, the phenomenal ships at the docks of the sea, and the village... A strange recollection came to him at the image ahead, when he had risen from the frozen pond as an immortal winter spirit; wandering aimlessly through the kingdom in hopes that someone could see him or tell him who he was. But no one ever had, and he had remained as nothing more than the personification of winter until last year when he had sworn an oath as a guardian. Jack felt a wash of pride flood through him, feeling more like a man than he ever had before in his life. He knew that the last time he had taken refuge in Arendelle, he would have given anything to have known what his existence meant... And now, he finally had it; the secrets were no longer held from him.

But even so, Jack's thoughts were pushed aside by a strange panic that ensued shortly after. Because after his gaze had finished being so drawn to the architecture of Arendelle, he realized that something was off above the country. The sky was a deep gray, as if a storm had recently soiled the atmosphere. But there was something deadly; it deepened by the seconds, growing into a light hue of black surfacing over the kingdom. A shaky exhale left Jack's lips involuntarily, when he turned around to find Bunny and Chronos again. The Guardian of Time was formidably sitting in the grass, looking down at the scene with a strange hunger in his eyes; holding the clasp of the chains that contained his wrists and hands closer to him. Meanwhile, Bunny continued to try regain his loss of appetite; struggling to stand while nausea rushed through him.

"Wait, something's... Something isn't right." Jack muttered, turning around on his heel at grasp firmly at the shephard's staff that he had left behind. He glided up into the air to get a better look at the shaded sky, feeling dread sink through his stomach at the realization that sunlight was only being emitted onto the North Mountain. Elsewhere, it was heavily shadowed; as if a dome of black had been clasped over Arendelle's kingdom.

"Jack! Where are you going?!" Bunny called after him at once, taking a quick grip of Chronos' chains when Jack had released them to soar higher.

"The sky, Bunny. It's... It's almost black!" Jack shouted in return, pressing his staff underneath his barefeet to form a small platform of his own. But he slid back in the same motion thereafter; flipping it up over his shoulder when he collided with the grass again. "This isn't what Arendelle looked like! Something has happened!"

"Of course it isn't, boyo." Chronos spoke up again, lifting both of his red eyebrows in amusement. But then he easily confirmed what Jack had been thinking - even if he never would have found it imaginable prior to arriving three hundred years in the past. "Pitch has marked his territory. This land is his now; whether you like it or not."

"What do you mean?" It was Bunny who spoke up now, but Jack was glad that he did. Ice began to ripple over the handle of his staff the longer that he listened to the imprisoned guardian make false assumptions about Pitch's power.

"What do I mean?" Chronos asked, laughing heartily behind a sneer. He straightened out his posture, making several cracks between his shoulders when the pressure was released. "Pitch has won. If he's able to control the skies, the weather... That means Arendelle _believes _in him. Not only children, but the men and women, too. You're too late to make any changes; it's over, guardians. Take me back home."

Even despite the clench that came to his stomach, Jack turned away to face Arendelle again. He rolled his staff over his shoulder, flexing his jaw in hardened thought. It was perhaps unfathomable to the winter spirit that Pitch Black had gained so much power over a continent in a little more than a week, but he knew that even if Chronos tried to deter him, it surely wasn't _over_. So with a steady chuckle, Jack turned back and tilted his head at the sneering guardian; eyes intensifying as a brush of warm wind tousled his white hair.

"I'm not gonna let that happen."

"Oh, you will..." Chronos' smile lit up again, pale eyes looking hard at him. Jack thought that he looked more like a wolf than he did a man, the longer that he looked continued... "I know you will. This war ended three hundred years ago, Jack Frost. There is nothing that you can do to stop it."

For the briefest second, when Jack looked back at the Guardian of Hope for consolation, he thought that his fellow guardian believed Chronos' words judging by the expression that he wore. But when he turned around again to face Arendelle - wearing a look of fierce determination, hoping that they would be able to find Sandy and Pitch in a short span of time somewhere underneath the canopy of nightmarish sky - he decided promptly that he was done hearing about the future that the Guardian of Time was looking to uphold. It was time to end Pitch, then and there.

"Whatever, come on, Bunny. Let's go find Sandy and end this." He glanced over his shoulder to find Bunnymund, still holding Chronos' silver shackles to him. In which case, Bunny didn't look deterred by Chronos' reasoning. Instead, he appeared amused as he cleared the distance between himself and Jack.

"Oi, we can't just drag Chronos along with us, champ." Bunny started, managing to smirk despite that the catastrophe had worsened. "One of us needs to go and look for Sandy while the other stays here with him to make sure there is no funny business. And since you volunteered earlier... So this is for you." He dropped the end of the iron shackles into Jack's hands; tying the end of it onto his staff.

In which case, Jack was quick to offer Bunny a very frank expression of disheartenment when the guardian began facing Arendelle on his own.

"Come on, I _know _Arendelle, I lived here!" Jack tried to say, hoping that would somehow dissuade Bunny from leaving him behind. His gaze was on alert of the kingdom again, watching while the darkened sky seemed to swallow the vicinity whole... A moment of fear flitted through him, causing his entire body to shift towards the earth below. But Bunny turned to look at him, offering him a frank expression.

"Yeah, three hundred years ago, mate." He spun one of his boomerangs, resting his gaze back down on the kingdom. "I won't take long. Just a quick run around the village and I'll be right back, I promise. I'll let you know what's going on down there. In the mean time..." A nod was offered towards the incarcerated Chronos, who looked outright bored with where the situation was going as he looked up at the guardians with a loft expression. "Make sure he doesn't get away from you."

But just when Bunny began to trek away, Jack grasped his shoulder to stop him.

"Wait. What if something happens?" He asked, surprising himself by how naive he sounded, even if the risky part of Jack wanted deeply to be in on the action. The last thing he wanted to do was sit around and wait for information. A very profound part of his brain reminded him that Arendelle had once been his homeland, even if he couldn't remember that part of his life. And in that aspect, he felt protective of it; like he had more right to be there. Regardless, Bunny wasn't having anything of it when he turned to make Jack a promise.

"Nothing is going to happen." Bunny insisted, tilting his head some. They made eye contact, but even with Bunny's reassuring gaze, Jack still felt weariness drip through him. But he knew that arguing with the Easter Bunny - of all people - wasn't going to stop the other figure from doing what he had planned. An admirable trait that Jack had always found in his ally, but one that he felt disgruntled about; especially when it had to do with Pitch eating up a country with his nightmares. "Keep a good eye out. I'll be back."

And with rapid speed, Bunny had darted all the way down the mountain. Jack tried to keep a good look out for where the furry guardian had gone, but he lost sight of him as soon as he had zipped along the shoreline. With a hefty sigh, the Guardian of Fun untangled the chain from his staff, retying it around his forearm instead. He paced back and forth on the hillside, enough times to where he began to memorize the blades of grass as he passed. Erstwhile, he didn't know how Bunny expected to locate Sandy so quickly on his own, and patience had never once been a virtue of his own during his existence. The seconds and minutes passed by unbearably slow while he waited, releasing huffs of frustration while running his hand through his tousled hair. Luckily, Chronos didn't offer any conversation during the period of time when his mental capacity was growing slimmer. He simply basked in the sunlight behind him, observing quietly while Jack waited.

Until finally - after what must have been more than fifteen minutes - Jack collapsed into the grass. He felt oppressed from the situation, knowing that Pitch was mere miles away from where the North Mountain was. And if Chronos had been telling the truth, then what if the Boogeyman already knew that they had arrived? Would he try and take out Bunny on his own, if he couldn't find Sandy in time...?

"So you lived here once."

Jack hadn't noticed that his eyes had closed when his thoughts had grown disparagingly. But they reopened again when he heard Chronos speaking to him. Gaze narrowing, he didn't bother to look up at the Guardian of Time again. In fact, he strived to ignore whatever was coming out of his mouth this time. They hadn't even known one another for more than a half an hour, and already Jack felt irritated by whatever he had to say. He rested his spine against the grass, stretching out his arms while staring up at the blue sky; watching while the area of gray slowly began to expand over his vision. Another testimony that caused Jack's worry to double, when he finally opened his mouth to respond to Chronos' assumption.

"Hey Chronos... Don't make me shove my staff up your ass. You'll be sneezing splinters for a week." Jack warned caustically, keeping his gaze up above him. His threat was only answered by a chuckle via Chronos, who resumed his logic, despite that Jack couldn't care less what he had to say.

"Yes, I can see. You lived... Right over there, in a little cottage with your mother and sister with the pond in the back. That was where you died, during the great freeze of Arendelle..."

Blinking, Jack looked up with indignation. He had to remind himself of the powers that Chronos possessed as a guardian, but when he gazed over at him again, he felt his mouth open intuitively to see where he was pointing.

"You _know _all of that?" He asked dubiously, voice sounding strangely hoarse. Chronos answered him with a chuckle at first, dropping the hand that had pointed towards somewhere over the kingdom. It _was_ the direction that Jack could recall being risen out of, but even so... He wanted to remain as skeptical of the other guardian for as long as he could.

"Of course I do." Chronos purred, bringing his knees up to rest them against his chest. His stare remained intact to the darkened sky, sounding sympathetic when it continued. "It is a shame you don't remember your life, Jack Frost. Otherwise this wouldn't be happening... But I know why Man in the Moon took it all away. You can thank me for that."

Even though Jack had initially fought to keep himself from making conversation with Chronos, he found himself failing when questions began spewing out of his mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"Man in the Moon was afraid you would end up like _me_." Chronos cast him a meaningful glance. A rare, gentle smile flattened over his expression, but Jack sensed that there was nothing good that came out of it. And he tried with all of his might not to become attached to Chronos' story when he began, but even so... It felt like pieces were falling into place again, just like they did when he had seen his own memories himself the year before.

"I was from France, born in 1401... I had three sisters and one brother. My father was a pastor, we lived to serve God and King Charles VI." Chronos sounded fond when he spoke of his family, even Jack couldn't doubt that. "But, war came and it went. In 1422, I died to protect my family from the bloodshed of war, much like you died to save your sister." He paused, nodding once at Jack with acknowledgement. But his silver stare gleaming over Arendelle as his lips crunched together, eyes narrowing into a stern glare. "It wasn't until years after I became an immortal soul that I learned, however, that my mother, my father, and my brother and sisters were all killed in the same raid. I was simply the first to die, trying to keep them protected."

Jack fixed his posture, sitting up to listen to Chronos continue. For the smallest second, he thought about sympathizing with him. But as he went on, Jack realized that there was nothing that the prisoner wanted out of him but to by pitied; and that was not something that he planned on giving him, especially since he showed approval of the actions that Pitch made towards harming children. Fortunately, Chronos made it easier for him to despise him when his words began to overlap with Pitch Black.

"And I tried with all of my might to beg my creator to go back to save them. But as it were, the Guardian of Time cannot change his own destiny based on selfish impulses." Chronos closed his eyes, smiling and chuckling darkly while he shook his head and rested his chin against his knees; as if he was reveling in a past recollection, somehow. "I never wanted this, to be a guardian. To live with only the premise to protect children, as if I owed them something after my own family was slaughtered."

Eyebrows furrowing together, Jack drew his gaze back to his staff again; clenching it between his hands. It had certainly never made sense before - why Man in the Moon would have revoked his memories, while the other guardians had theirs... And part of him wanted to further doubt Chronos' claims, even if he felt like there might be truth behind them; biting his lower lip as the thoughts consumed him. It was a pleasant distraction from worrying about Pitch overtaking Arendelle as his own and where Bunny or Sandy were... But Jack didn't want to give it another thought, as his human life was over. There was nothing left for him but to protect children from the Nightmare King - and whoever else had been pulled in as well.

Yet, Chronos didn't stop; he went on in the same polite, gentle voice as before when he finished. Jack felt rightly disgusted, his lower lip curling; wondering how Man in the Moon could have picked someone like him whatsoever.

"So yes, I suppose that is why Man in the Moon decided to take your memories from you. As if thinking that you would turn into a ruthless guardian, such as myself."

"Why are you telling me this? Do you expect me to pity you?" Jack stood up, turning around to firmly face the guardian. He straightened out the chain around his arm, staring back at Chronos with an accusing glare. "You were the reason people were killed during the Dark Ages - "

"_I _was the reason they were killed?" Chronos interjected to correct him, looking particularly appalled by the assumption being made. Jack didn't even bother trying not to roll his eyes. "That was on Pitch's doing, not my own. I simply gave him tools to make himself stronger. I am not Man in the Moon's puppet like you and the other guardians are, Jack Frost. I never _chose _this."

"Right, and that just makes you a victim, doesn't it?" Jack retorted sardonically, hoping that his minutes with Chronos were growing smaller. But even as he swept another glance over Arendelle, he began to feel his hope fade.

Chronos chuckled again, eyeing Jack under a scrutinizing gaze before he picked up where he left off; as if Jack's mentions were nothing more than a brush off of his shoulder.

"I don't expect that you of all people would understand." His mouth contorted into a nasty smile, motioning his jaw back and forth as he attempted to rearrange the cuffs around his wrists. "None of you do. Your sister lived after you died trying to save her. And the Snow Queen - well, she was very _grateful _for your friendship. You were very meaningful to them, whereas, there is no one to remember what good I did."

Jack only looked back at Chronos again when he heard him mention the Snow Queen, feeling his eyes widen with surprise, even if he had considered the option before...

"I knew the Snow Queen?" He asked impulsively, begging to know more; although he tried to remind himself that Chronos _was _a liar.

Despite that most of the memories had faded over three hundred years, Jack had still never forgotten her. The Snow Queen of Arendelle, who he had only seen once during the first few and very desperate years of his immortal spirit. She had made ice sculptors out of her hands; luring Jack in, even if she hadn't known it. There was a slight, vivid image in Jack's subconscience that recalled her white-blonde hair, statuesque figure, and ice gown. But amidst all of that, he mostly remembered her as the small token of confidence that he had once had to strive for knowledge of who he was, but there had been something about her that had stuck when he had followed her into the castle; praying silently that she would be able to see him... He couldn't extract what her name had been, since he had only heard it once. But there had been something about her eyes that had never made him forget her, even when he felt that she had slipped out of his grasp long ago.

"Yes. You were friends. Her only friend, I think..."

Chronos' cool, informative tone broke Jack out of his reminiscence. His thoughts broke on the word _friends_, feeling his breath stiffen as he tore his gaze back to look at the guardian, who seemed to know so fluently about the life he had left behind...

"She was isolated most of her life, until a year ago... But it doesn't matter now. Soon, she will perish with the rest of her country." Chronos lifted an eyebrow, smiling minimally, as if there was nothing more to add. But just when Jack wanted to back track desperately and ask him when or how he could have been friends with the Queen of Arendelle, a rumble of thunder crashed over the valley below. Jack jumped, adrenaline coursing through him when he turned to look. A purge of lightning landed near the castle from the blackened sky, and before Jack knew it, he was already on his feet trying to get a better look; picking up his staff with him. It was only the tug of Chronos' chain was there to remind him that he couldn't, causing Jack to release a frustrated grunt in protest.

"See what I mean? Pitch is already taking control of the castle as we speak." Chronos nodded his head towards the castle. Jack gritted his teeth at his ignorance, jerking at the chain again.

"What's happening?!" He demanded rigidly, staring coolly over his shoulder. "What's going on?!"

But again, Chronos closed his eyes; as if he was an all seeing master of each event taking place. The thought startled Jack, especially when Chronos reopened his stare and gave him a coy smile in response. But he didn't move from the grass once, despite that he picked up his shoulders and crossed his legs again.

"Oh, I think... Ah yes, Pitch has just taken control of the Snow Queen's staff members."

The response was almost as if it had been delivered from an experienced actor, causing Jack's eyes to widen again as he looked back over at the kingdom again. The darkness resumed, deepening into a jet black. And for the first time Bunny had left, Jack felt the strongest impulse he'd ever had to _do _something about it. His hands jerked to release the chain around his arm, but he stopped himself midway between the action. Recollection slowly sunk into his senses, reminding him that Bunny had promised him that he would arrive shortly... And at that, Jack deadpanned; hand retracting to his side feebly when he came to the realization that he couldn't do anything at all if he didn't coordinate with the other guardians.

"Better go and do something about that, guardian. Otherwise she may be dead before you get there." Chronos' voice shook him out of his thoughts, causing him to look up sharply at the imprisoned guardian. Grimacing, Jack looked up angrily, eyes narrowing as he clanked the chains against the ground.

"I can't, I told Bunny I would stay here...!" But even when he said it aloud, he knew it wouldn't be enough to keep him there. Especially with Chronos' open reminder that there was danger up ahead, in great need of being prevented...

"Well, some promises can't be kept, can they?" Chronos finally lifted himself up onto his feet, shrugging his shoulders at Jack with a wide smile stretched out over his wolfish features. "Don't you want to know how she knew you? I know I would..."

But Jack did not fight with himself for another minute while he imagined what might happen if he didn't step in the way. Grunting harshly, he curved his staff underneath his fist and pressed the end of it into the ground; the earth shuddered underneath him, sending a vast collapse of ice splintering out of the dirt. It grew into a massive figure, frozen solid like an iceberg; strong, sturdy, and surely unbreakable to someone whose powers had been degenerated and locked in chains. And once it had finished, Jack felt his heart pounding hard against his ribs; spinning the duration of the shackles hard around the glacier with all of his strength. Chronos was pulled forward, dragged against his will. He made several noises of objection, and only stopped when his face was a little more than an inch in front of the glacier; hardly any room to move or look around, once the train of irons had been clasped around the ice.

"I'll be back for you." Jack took a step back, gripping his staff as he took a step back to observe the new, icy prison that he had made. "If Bunny or Sandy return while I'm gone, tell them I've gone to the castle."

To his surprise, Chronos merely laughed; turning his head back as much as he could to respond.

"Will do." His silver eyes gleamed, matching up with the impish smile that he offered. And as Jack began to take one giant leap down the side of the North Mountain, he tried to pretend he didn't hear the last words that the Guardian of Time had to offer him.

"But I won't be here when you get back, Jack Frost. Mark my words."

* * *

The blackness over the sky pursued, thunder roaring over the kingdom, causing the sea to tremble when Jack finally met the shoreline of the North Mountain. He glided his staff over the body of water, sending a thrill and path of ice as he went, moving and flying quicker as the brisk wind blew behind him. It felt as though the afternoon had already ended; Jack could hardly see what was in front of him when he came under the hooded sky. Not a star nor the moon could be seen, and a different gust that didn't belong to him nearly blew him off track. If it weren't for the lights of the castle up ahead, he wouldn't have been able to see through the haze of pitch black; wondering how any human could, or if any were capable. It bore another deposition that forced him to realize that whatever Pitch had done - whatever manipulation or control that he had managed to detain for Arendelle - was much stronger than what the Nightmare King had succeeded the year before.

But finally, he hit one of the towers of the castle head on. Gasping from the loss of breath and hard impact against his chest, Jack struggled to climb up the wall; feet barely able scrape up the jutted brick of the castle to regain his composure. His heart pounded hard in his ears, nearly tumbling over again when another harsh blast of air caused him to topple over when he finally found the roof. Arms feeling weak and drained already, Jack took in a deep breath as he slid down the second green tower. With a vague idea of how the layout of the castle worked from what he could remember, he slid down from the column; dragging his staff underneath him into a hover to look through one of the windows. When he didn't find anyone at all in his wake, he swore loudly under his breath and sought out the next nearest window.

This time, his indigo eyes were met with an archway. Blinking, he saw as shadows began to approach. There was a cluster of men that entered the hallway, all of them bearing the green uniform that signified that they belonged as servants of the castle. Jack blinked to watch them converse, but none of them did. His sight finally took in the appearance of their eyes, which were abnormally _black_. But as soon as he noticed as much, they all turned to look at them, reaching down for the swords that had been concealed at their sides to seek him out - as if they had been operated to do so. Darting backwards, Jack flew down to escape, feeling frantic at the concept that not only had the men _seen_ him and known that he was there, but they were ready to attack - ready to harm him, if they took another step closer...

And they were nothing more than Pitch's pawns.

A wave of tremors came over Jack when he finally found an open window on the other side of the castle. Only a single candle was lit in the room, but it was enough to see where he was. And upon entering through the warm bedroom that touched his flesh, he clasped onto a wardrobe at his side when his bare feet hit the ground; attempting to recover from lack of breath and outright shock. The scent of something sweet, rich, and familiar - though he didn't know _how - _greeted him, easing him back into comfort despite that his nerves were frantic. Shuffling his staff back into his slender grip, he took one further step into the room, but overheard voices outside of the door that caused him to duck underneath wardrobe.

"Anton, I don't know what's happened - don't take a step closer, don't you dare...! I don't want to hurt you!"

And just when Jack had thought he had forgotten the Snow Queen's voice in all of those years, he found himself remembering through the haze of wonder that three hundred years had provided. He held his breath, crouching into a knelt position while he watched the shadows behind the door. There was a loud pounding sound - a fist harshly smashing into the door, indenting it from the outside. Jack nearly jumped from his hiding position, but didn't need to. The door opened in desperation, and the Snow Queen herself bounded into the room - sending a shock of ice out of her fingertips.

A second later, her chaser followed. He adorned the identical uniform to the other staff members, holding his sword dangerously and swiping it out to attempt to slash at the queen. But his arms had been frozen solid, causing his coordination to fail. The queen dodged his attempts, holding her arms out in front of her as she slipped into the room, begging for him to stop... Jack gritted his teeth at the vigorous scene, observing fully now that the man's eyes were lost; they had become just as black as the others.

And finally - without any hesitation that the queen had offered to harm her own subjects - Jack sent a blast of sharp ice at the man who had become a mindless slave to the Nightmare King. The jet of sleet smacked hard into his chest, freezing his torso until he lost all feeling and dropped onto the floor into a heap. Breathing heavily, Jack jumped over the bed, slamming the door back into place once he had eliminated the distance between himself, the man, and the queen.

He looked down at the man, feeling himself grow paler when the onyx gaze looked up at him; but no more movements were had. For the briefest second, Jack feared that he might have killed him. But finally, his head drooped sideways, indicating that he was still alive. Exhaling with relief, Jack rested his hands on his knees, fingers shaking at the idea of what exactly Pitch had done...

"Jack?"

Jack felt his body grow stiff at the sound of his own name being uttered from the queen only a few feet away from him. At first, he didn't have the bravery to face her; feeling all of his muscles seize up from trauma. But as soon as his gaze slowly trailed up to meet her face in the dimness of the room - and he was able to see her fully for the first time in three hundred years - he remembered her name, wishing that he had never forgotten it.

"Elsa..." He started breathily, squinting through the darkness to find her eyes. And there they were - just as blue as he recalled. But they looked back at him, horrified. Throat tightening up, Jack coughed; pressing the hand that held his staff over his mouth. But he managed to sputter throughout the array of disbelief that she could finally see him - after all that time.

"You can... You can see me?"

Her chest rose and fell; silence permeating through the air around them. Jack blinked, wondering what she was thinking and why she looked as jolted as he felt. But then, he remembered Chronos' words...

_"Yes. You were friends. Her only friend, I think..."_

Stomach churning at the thought, Jack met her eyes again, daring himself to take a step closer to her. And when he did, Elsa didn't turn away. Instead, she bit her lip; looking up at him with wonder and a strange, deep-settled hurt that he didn't know how to understand. Until lastly, her voice seemed to return to her; making the smallest, conscience effort to nod, but only once to confirm his suspicions.

"I can see you."

* * *

#ohmygod  
#Ican'thandlemyJelsafeels  
#Ilovethemsomuch

I hope this was alright. It took me forever and a day... I should be updating tomorrow~~~ I TOLD YOU GUYS THERE WOULD BE ACTION.

Lots of Jelsa to come. Lots lots lots.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes**:  
I had to really, really, really think about Jack and Elsa's meeting last night. FJfhuehufe... Elsa is such a complex and deep character, so if this seems ooc for her, I'm really sorry. I guess you'd have to read Summer Shudder to know how much she cared about Jack's friendship. (Or if you don't want to, that's okay as well. It's like eighteen chapters of nothing but fluff and tragedy.) Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Some day I will return the favor somehow... Some day.

**yorushihe **- I haven't read all of A Song Of Ice and Fire yet! SPOILER ALERT! Just kidding though, I pretty much know what happens because I'm impatient. And totally, I think Jon is definitely a Targaryen! That's basically my headcanon. The Jelsa age difference isn't going to be a big deal since they came from the same century and all. ;) But lots of teasing will be had. I hope you feel better soon!

**x Cheetah x **- Legit died at your pun. Oh my god. I'm still laughing about it...

**Artemis173 **- YOU'RE awesome!

**maggilefay**- I've missed youuu! Thanks for reviewing again! :)

Oh. And to all you Jelsators, Cheetah says hi. ;D

/

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter IX_

* * *

Somewhere through the hue of dim light provided by the one solid candle in the bedchamber, Jack could see that the regal queen was emotionally struggling ahead of him. Her eyes were wide on him, as if afraid that if she might blink, he would disappear. When silence resonated through the room, he realized that it was his turn to speak. But the prospect of doing so was much harder than he anticipated, while continuing to watch the young woman apprehensively. He wished so badly that he could remember her - to understand why she suddenly seemed so fragile in his presence - but instead, he waited with bated breath to see what she might do next. And finally, she did do something - she raised her hand up uncertainly to look at him, as if she wanted to touch him. Her eyes peered back at him gently, something somber bearing emphasis beneath them that she had never thought that she would see him again. The hand wavered in midair, nearing his shoulder. Jack waited for the touch to come, but it never did. It fell back down to her side again, fingers curling as her eyes averted.

"I'm sorry..." Elsa started softly, a deep sorrow crossing over her features. Jack blinked curiously, wondering what she was afraid of. But he instead cast her a crooked smile in return to her hesitancy, swinging his staff over his shoulder as he strolled in front of her. His steps were slow and cautious, as to make sure that he wasn't doing anything that she didn't want him to. But when she didn't initially turn or pull away, he finally stopped in front of her.

"Don't be sorry." He murmured, reaching down to pull her retracted forefinger in between his fingers and up into the gap between them. Elsa stiffened at the touch; her azure eyes looking up at him, bearing a grimace of uncertainty. But even so, Jack continued tugging at her finger until her hand rested on his shoulder. "Here... Does that feel real?"

Quietude again permeated through the room. Elsa closed her eyes briefly, taking in a deep breath. Until finally, the slender hand on his shoulder clutched the fabric of his hoodie to search for the skin underneath. And then recognition seemed to take a hold of her expressions, and the smallest of all smiles curved at her mouth. Jack began to grin at her, but just when he did so, her hand wandered around the back of his shoulders. Jack only blinked once until Elsa's arms were around his neck, the top of her head resting into his collars. Natural instinct was to return the embrace, even if he couldn't remember her. There was a strange familiar feeling of having her in his arms, an exhilarating one that he had never felt before. He could feel her heart pulsing frantically in her chest at their close proximity, surprised when she squeezed him tighter upon his arms winding around her middle.

Part of him wanted to ask her if _she _was the one who was real, because he could scarcely believe that there was someone who cared about him as much as she seemed in just the few seconds of their reunion. And in all of that time, Jack was somewhat glad that she hadn't been able to see him three hundred years ago. Because he didn't know if he would have been able to let go of her, if he had known that she was once his _friend_.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked her tentatively. His hand reached down to prop her jaw up to look at him. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

Just when his hand had rested on her chin, Elsa indignantly tugged away from his gesture. She blinked and shook her head once, as if she couldn't believe her own actions; like she thought them foolish.

"No, I'm fine." Elsa answered instantly. Her fingers came up to smoothly run them through her scalp; shaking her head once more. "I'm sorry, I just... I thought I would never see you again. After what I told you, Jack... I asked you to never come after me."

She looked up at him searchingly, waiting for him to respond. But Jack could only blink in response, unsure of what she meant. And as soon as she saw that little to no recollection was made, she paused. A deep frown rested on her lips as her head bowed with great disappointment.

"... But you don't remember."

"No, I don't. I'm sorry..." Jack tried to sound genuine as he apologized, knowing that it was useless. He leaned down to look her in the eyes again, smiling minimally in her direction. "But I'm here to help."

Elsa gazed upwards at the sound of a promise. Her thin eyebrows knitted together firmly to greet him when he brought up the most important prospect of being there. Jack exhaled deeply, bringing his staff back down to lounge in his fingers as he strolled back to where the man had fallen on the floor. The man in the uniform was unconscious now, yet his black eyes remained opened and cold; staring absentmindedly across the room. Jack pointed the end of the staff towards him, glancing over his shoulder at the Snow Queen for answers.

"Did you know this man?" He asked, lifting his eyebrows.

Elsa nodded feebly. "Yes, Anton. He's been a guard here for as long as I can remember..."

"But he tried to kill you?" It was difficult for him not to sound accusing now, despite that he knew the reason why. Elsa looked a little defensive when he mentioned it, gazing down at the sharp sword that had fallen out of his hand when he had collided with the ground.

"It wasn't him." She tried to say, sounding slightly defeated. "It was - "

"I know, it was Pitch." Jack interjected, rolling his staff over his shoulder. He turned around to look at Elsa, tilting his head as he approached her again. "Have you seen him at all?"

"Only once. Ever since then, the sky has grown darker every day." Elsa's voice was small at first, but eventually she regained her bravery from before. Her eyes narrowed, lips pursing together in synchronization. She straightened out her regal posture and cast him a hardened look, clasping her hands in front of her. "And Anton's eyes, everyone's eyes... They started changing."

"I noticed... When I was flying over the window on the second floor, that all of your servants looked... Different." Jack admitted softly, running a hand through his disheveled hair again. It must have been a nervous habit that he'd had for a long time, because Elsa smiled thinly when she saw him make the action. But as soon as he mentioned "flying", she blinked in response; sounding purely befuddled by his words.

"You can fly?" She asked gently. Jack laughed instinctively at the note of disbelief in her voice, wishing that he could prove it to her then and there.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can fly. How do you think I got in here?" He asked, leaning against his staff to impend his face closer to hers. Elsa cleared her throat, strolling away while rubbing her hands together as she turned her back towards him. A little crackle of ice wandered over her hands, but the queen was clearly on alert now as weariness spread over her fair-skinned, elegant face.

"Anton came into the study while I was working and tried to kill me." She explained bluntly, turning her head to stare out the window. The sky was darker than ever now, Jack noticed, which made him realize that they were running out of time. Elsa seemed to acknowledge this was well when she turned back to gaze at him sternly. Sleet began to form over her fingertips as anxiety rushed through her, sounding frantic when she began again.

"Pabbie warned me that Pitch would take control over the kingdom, that my people were seeing him now... That's why this is happening, isn't it? He has control over them - "

"Shh, calm down." Jack glided towards her in a single motion, closing the space between them once she'd turned around. An action that caused Elsa's eyes widen with surprise, opening her mouth at the sight like she might ask him how he'd done it. But he cut her off, keeping his eyes rested fondly on her chilled fingers when he took them into her own. The ice emitted from her hand, sifting into his own palms. And with a flick of his wrists, he turned it into nothing more than a puff of frost when his fingers strayed from hers again. "It's going to be okay, I promise. You're going to be fine."

It seemed as though the queen desired to inquire how he'd managed to take the ice that she had formed during an outbreak of her emotions. But instead, she exhaled deeply and looked up at him again; trying to make him understand how much danger Arendelle was in.

"It's not me that I'm worried about, Jack. This is my castle, my kingdom, I bear responsibility for everyone that Pitch has harmed." The intensity in her gaze made Jack step aback. It was admirable, that she cared so deeply about her kingdom... Another twist in his stomach told him that he had to be reassuring for her, and that was something that he mentally pledged to do. For some reason, he felt that he owed that to her - especially since he couldn't remember what life he had lived prior to becoming a guardian.

"I know. But like I told you, I'm here to help." Jack grinned crookedly at her, gesturing towards the closed door with a jerk of his head. "So first, you and I are going to find Sandy and Bunny."

Another look of incredulity flitted to Elsa's face, but it seemed that she no longer had the urge to argue.

"The Sandman and the Easter Bunny?" She repeated the names, chuckling humorlessly while pressing her palm over her forehead. The queen rubbed her temples with her thumb and her middle finger, sighing deeply. "Good heavens, I am going mad..."

"You know, for someone who was born with ice powers, you don't really have a lot of liability for skepticism, your majesty..."

The teasing remark caused Elsa to turn and deliver him a childish scowl. Regardless, Jack laughed loudly, twirling his staff back into his grip as he angled his body towards the indented door. "So let's get you out of here, alright?"

But another crash was heard, louder than before. Jack was on alert at once, taking a step closer towards Elsa when the door was shoved aside and rammed hard against the wall behind it. The light from the corridor outside streamed through the bedchamber, revealing the guards that Jack had seen before through the window. Their swords were met at their sides, only taking one look at the queen and Jack, before running at full speed towards them; black eyes full, peering with malicious intent and homicide. Jack had just begun to spin his staff over his shoulder to shoot another stream of ice at them to freeze them in place, but when he made the approach to do so, a blast of sleet came rushing from behind him. It sent all of the uniformed guards toppling back upon impact, freezing them onto the floor.

Subsequently, Jack began to howl with laughter, shooting a triumphant smile at the queen. She looked down at her hands with surprise, as if she hadn't meant to use her power in such a way to defend herself. But Jack was ecstatic that she had, glancing down at each of the men with awe.

"Not bad, your highness! Are you sure you're really a queen?" He asked playfully, arching his head towards her. Elsa rolled her eyes, wearing a slight smirk when it was her turn to use sarcasm.

"In all of the time that's passed, you still think you're the most clever individual on the face of the planet, don't you?" Her question was teasing, lifting a single eyebrow up at him when she came closer. Jack shrugged his shoulders as he carefully led them both over the icy doorway, waiting patiently for her to join him in the hallway.

"Well, I am." Jack countered, waggling his eyebrows when they began to sprint down the grand staircase. He didn't know exactly where they were going when he looked back and forth down the long spacious corridor, but it was imperative that they left the castle gates. If they intended to find Bunny or Sandy, that was the only chance that they had to stop Pitch - if he was anywhere to be found. But Elsa took the lead once they landed on the first floor, motioning for him to join her at the front doors.

Elsa released a hefty breath; pushing one of them open with her arms. It finally gave way, expelling a great heavy sound into the courtyard outside of the castle walls. Jack blinked as the opening was made, slipping through the exit cautiously to look for any more potential predators. He looked over his shoulder again, surprised to see that Elsa was smiling at him now.

"Of course you are. I haven't forgotten." She told him humorously. But just when the queen stepped out into the courtyard to join him side by side, a gust of dark air rustled Jack's hair to send the tiniest shiver rippling down his spine.

Dread sank through his stomach when he heard the sound of iron clanking together, knowing who had appeared through the open gates. And when he looked back as mild terror plunged his senses, there was a vast row of Arendelle's guards looking back at him and Elsa; blocking them from escape, eyes fully blackened; their figures holding a set of swords. Jack heard the queen gasp softly from beside him in surprise, but he reached out to touch her arm reassuringly. Especially when a gap of prolonging shadows formed on the ground towards them... And the Nightmare King himself appeared in front of them, glowering behind a wide, proud, and pointed smile.

"Oh hello, Elsa. Long time, no see, my dear." His towering figure lurched over her in comparison, but Elsa didn't move a muscle - nor did she bother attempting to form a response. Pitch looked irritated by her lack of surprise, instead focusing his silver and gold stare towards Jack instead.

"Ah, and you've reunited with Jack as well?" His tone was playful now, pacing in front of them both slowly. "Hello, Jack."

"Pitch." Jack tightened his fist around the handle of his staff. A stretch of ice emanated from the tips of his fingers over the wooden surface, seething as he stared the Boogeyman hard in the eyes. "What have you done this time?"

Pitch turned to laugh, covering his mouth in his hand. The figures behind him were drawing closer to Jack and Elsa, growing paler as the shadows consumed them.

"What ever do you mean? I've simply turned all of these servants into my mindless slaves, as they deserve." Pitch explained, outstretching his arms. Jack felt his jaw clench in bitter irritation, but he knew that Pitch liked to hear the sound of his own voice, and therefore allowed the Boogeyman to continue. "You see, it isn't very often when an _adult _believes in the Boogeyman. Only every once in a blue moon, I'm afraid... It's quite unfortunate. But these people were _so _easy!"

He laughed again, looking back at the uniformed men with blackened eyes. Jack took one swift glance at Elsa, who held her hands up in front of her again as they began to advance on them. Their footsteps were heavy against the mortar of the castle courtyard, and Jack swore that he didn't see them flinch once. But again, Pitch turned to face them again. Deep shadows were cast over his hooded eyes, grinning wide when he saw that Elsa was ready to freeze them out of the way. A challenging simper came to rest on his lips, pausing lightly to offer them a brisk nod.

"The mind of a grown human is much more intense than any child. And as soon as their fear festers into horror, well... I gain the ability to do _this_."

Once the demand was made with one swipe of Pitch's long fingers, the guards came at them with incredible speed. Jack smacked the end of his staff clean against the ground, causing several of them to collapse once the ice had frozen their feet. He caught a glimpse of Elsa, sending a sharp array of icy glaze towards the men, but she wore a mask of reluctance when they pierced them. Jack understood why - they were _her _attendants, she likely knew all of them by name. But it wasn't enough, before Jack was being grabbed from behind. He fought to escape in any direction, freezing the arms that plunged him into the ground until his skull crunched into the floor of the courtyard. The arctic arms and legs kept him there, making it impossible for him to move. His staff had fallen out of his hands, inches away from where he had been bounded to the mortar. Desperately, Jack reached for it, but his arms were pinned in different areas...

"Pitch!" Jack growled, wincing when one of the men stomped hard on the back of his head to silence him. "Pitch, god damn you! Let them go, you can take me instead!"

"Oh, but what fun is that?" He could barely make out Pitch from beneath the several servants who kept him down against the floor. But finally, the Boogeyman swerved into his sight. He knelt down in front of Jack, patting him on the head fondly. "I can't kill a guardian, now can I?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack watched while Elsa continued to blow each of the men away with the sharp icicles forming out of her fingertips. She did remarkably well on her own, but when one of the men released a grunt of pain, she looked over for just one split second. A gush of blood began forming out of the servant's chest from the deadly impact, leaking out onto the mortar beneath him, until he finally collapsed. And Jack could see that she was instantaneously horrified, covering her hands with her mouth before finally, she was smacked hard and unwillingly onto her knees by one of the servants who managed to escape from the sleet of ice that Jack had made with his staff from behind. Jack tried to say her name, but broke on the first syllable when another swift kick smashed hard into his face.

Head spinning, Jack tried to focus as his vision blurred from the pain that seared though out his forehead. He could barely make out Pitch's voice again when the Nightmare King dared to casually saunter closer to him, looking down with a small chuckle leaving his slim mouth. Jack's fingernails scraped the staff at his side, but it was of no use; he couldn't reach it, no matter which way he contorted his shoulders into painful angles.

"It's amazing how weak you guardians become when it comes to harming human beings."

Pitch looked around the area with affection. His gaze shimmered over the men stuck in the ice, not bothering to help them. He seemed to be stalling on purpose, taking another step towards Elsa. She was several feet from where Jack was being pinned to the ground and he could barely see her out of the corner of his eye. Panic stretched deeply through Jack, all the way down to his bones when the Boogeyman came closer to her...

"You see, when I first arrived in Arendelle, I wanted the Snow Queen's powers. I _craved _it, starved to take it from her... But upon realization that this kingdom was unstable due to fear and belief in the Boogeyman, well... I changed my mind."

Pitch seemed to consider her, tilting his head back and forth. Jack found it difficult to breath, the longer that he was held down to the ground. But it was his next sentence that made the color drain from his face, vowing to get revenge as soon as he found a way out of being jammed and pounded to the ground.

"You can take your petty _girl_ with you. I have no use for her now, so long as she's out of the way and her throne belongs to me. Or I could just kill her myself, it'd make the situation much easier to uphold. Perhaps I'll hold a square beheading, to commemorate the event..." Jack hunched his shoulder, arching it painfully while biting his lip in concentration. And finally, his fingertips began to clasp around the staff.

Pitch's robes billowed against the courtyard, flapping against the wind that blew at them. "What would you think of that, my dear?"

"I'm not afraid of you." Elsa's voice could be heard now, sounding rigid and dauntless. Jack felt immense pride for her, wishing that she would keep talking in order to keep Pitch from noticing that he was seconds away from grasping his staff... "I stopped being afraid of nightmares when I was a child, and that's all you'll ever be."

"So be it, then." The Nightmare King concluded, sounding aloof and bored now when he turned around to face the growing, impending men - with the exception of the handful that Jack and Elsa had managed to defeat alone. "Guards, take these two to the dungeon. Assemble the peasants; tell them their Snow Queen has been marked for death, and they are _required _to attend."

But none of them were given the chance to do so, before Jack had purged the men holding him down with a fierce burst of frost scorching out of his staff. He clambered to his feet, surprised to see that golden whips were being seen ahead from beyond the castle gates. The men were picked up and thrown by their legs and arms, smashing hard into the castle walls. And before long, Bunny had zoomed through the courtyard, sending a boomerang smacking clean against Pitch's legs, who lost his balance and shouted angrily. Jack grinned when he turned to see that the queen had managed to shrug away from the servants as well, but the expression she wore was not a pleasant sight. It was as if fatally harming someone had washed away the former ability she'd had to fight for her kingdom. She hugged her torso as the men were thrown aside by an approaching Sandman, who glinted overhead by a cloud as he surged through the courtyard.

"Bunny! Sandy!" Jack grinned at the appearance of the other guardians, ducking lowly when another man was thrown aside, crashing into the ground beside Elsa. Bunny cast him a hardened stare, looking particularly irritated. "I swear I've never been happier to see you both in my life!"

It took Jack a moment to see that Chronos was there as well, trying to catch his breath from behind Bunny, who held his chains tied over his shoulder. The Guardian of Time looked outright exhausted and worn down, struggling to stand as he was dragged by the iron shackles.

"And oh good, you've found Chronos as well - "

"Yes, we found Chronos!" Bunny finally greeted him, jerking hard at Chronos chain. The guardian slipped again, being thrown over hard onto his face. "Jack, you were supposed to be watching him - !"

"Look, Bunny, now's not exactly the time for arguments..." Jack tried to say, lifting both of his eyebrows. But just when he had done so, the Nightmare King and reappeared over the top of the courtyard, shadows drifting underneath him.

"ENOUGH!" Pitch shouted, his voice sending a tremor of quakes beneath them. Once the words were uttered, each of the men who had lost consciousness regained their former liveliness. They were up on their feet again, reaching for their weapons. Jack sent another shot of ice beaming out of his staff to try and keep them away, but they took Pitch's request - as if there was nothing else that they had to live for. "Round them up now and bring them to me!"

Jack barely had enough time to reach for Elsa when the guards began impending on them. He pulled her behind him, taking her into a corner of the courtyard. Bunny sped forward again, meeting them in the same place, holding his boomerang high while waiting for the men to make a single move... But Chronos hadn't said anything at all yet, looking loftily around at the possessed men that held their swords over their heads; ready to attack. Finally, Sandy had appeared, attempting to smack the impending, violent figures away, but it was getting down to the point where each of them knew that it meant life or death for them. Jack could see it in their eyes - especially Sandy's, who looked around nervously behind his beady, golden stare.

"Don't kill them, whatever you do..." Elsa whispered. One of her hands gripped around Jack's forearm, sending a thrill of ice shooting up his limb. "I promise they aren't like this normally."

"We can't kill them, even if we want to." Bunny answered her gruffly before Jack had the chance to do so. "It's ancient taboo for the guardians to kill a human."

But then, the Guardian of Time was piping in. He grinned around at each of the men, looking ecstatic to even be there in Pitch's presence as he looked up at the darkened, sneering Nightmare King.

"Ah, I do love being rounded...!" Chronos exclaimed, reaching up with both of his cuffs to wave at Pitch. "Hello Boogeyman! Love what you've done with the place!"

The men stopped moving momentarily, freezing in place when Pitch disappeared abruptly. He reemerged from another cluster of shadows, smiling as he came in front of Chronos.

"Chronos, dear old friend... My, still in chains? These guardians aren't as forgiving as I recall..." Pitch's voice was a light, friendly purr. But just when Sandy made the inclination to stop him from coming closer to the Guardian of Time, Pitch summoned a darkened mace. It slammed hard into the coiled, iron chain that kept Chronos their prisoner. And on impact, Chronos was free; the irons turned into silver dust, despite that Bunny tried to grasp them before they deteriorated. "Consider our debt repaid."

And once the chains were gone, the Guardian of Time turned to gaze back at the guardians who had kept him incarcerated for centuries.

"Tell Man in the Moon I said hello, won't you?" His wolfish features spread into a wide grin.

Jack felt his breath being lost with a rush of hysteria, rushing forward at a swift speed to stop Chronos from escaping. The effort was lost when he did so, Pitch sent the mace colliding hard against his forehead. He toppled backwards into Bunny, who leaped at the chance to take Pitch on. But Bunny was met with the fierceness of a sharp sword via one of the enchanted servants; plunging it deeply into his chest.

And then, it was all over in just a single second when Sandy went soaring at Pitch.

The Nightmare King pulled out a strange sphere of silver and white that Jack had never seen before. He crushed it hard into his grip, sending a fierce whirlwind after them. And even as Jack tried to hold his ground, gripping his staff to him, he knew that he couldn't fight the storm. They were being plunged into the portal of time and space again, bodies involuntarily losing their stance in the world of Arendelle. And the last words Jack heard Pitch make before being jerked from the ground and into the ethereal cyclone made a real flood of horror surge through his entire body.

_"Oh, and you four keep fighting, don't you? Don't worry, I've had a sudden change of heart. You can go back to where you belong."_

* * *

#ThereAreNotEnoughSynonymsFor"Ice"  
#WowI'mSorryIfThisWasLame  
#OhMyOverlandz

I'm real sorry if I made Elsa weak in this chapter. Blahhhh, I promise I didn't mean to. HER CHARACTER IS SO HARD...! SHE DOESN'T LIKE HURTING PEOPLE. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, WATCH FROZEN.

Lots of Jelsa to come. Lots of it. For feels and whatnot.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes:**  
OKAYOKAYOKAY. SO MANY QUESTIONS...! I promise all of them will be answered in this chapter. So glad you guys are asking, though. Keeping me on my toes. ;) I'm grateful though, just in case I forget to explain anything...

**Follia Della Rovina - **Glad I'm not the only one who is absolutely fed up with cheesy Jelsa fics...! And yes, yes you did. Thank you for one hundred reviews, everyone!

**Catcher Yarrow -** Thank you. Let me grab you a bandaid for your heart.

**x Cheetah x - **Dude, there is not a pun alive that does not make me laugh, I promise. I read Laffy Taffy jokes for enjoyment in my spare time. Bunny ain't gonna die! And you'll see about the chains momentarily. ;)

**DivineRedFire - **I... Can promise Sven is okay? Olaf might not be... I'm sorryyyy!

**Hanna - **That is a silly mailman face. I love Arya too! All of the Starks are my favorite. AndJaimeLannister. Coughwhat.

**Ichigo-chan - **Anna and Kristoff are still on their honeymoon, but I have plans for them. You'll see shortly. As for the trolls, ahhh... I think they're probably hiding from Pitch taking over the kingdom. I like to think he doesn't know about their existence, otherwise um. Boogeyman food.

Again, thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question or concerns, but I'm about to answer them now. Just wait, my sweet Jelsators/Frosties.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter X_

* * *

Every breath that Jack tried to take as the scene collapsed in front of him quickly vanished, met with a swirling whirlwind of panic. The winter spirit took in a deep breath of anxiety, attempting to keep himself clutched to the cool mortar of Arendelle's castle courtyard. But eventually, he was swept away, thrashing his legs until the portal reopened and he had landed hard against the floor of the dungeon cellar within the North Pole; just where they had started. Sputtering and coughing, Jack reopened his eyes that had tugged shut instinctively. His vision blurred again, reaching out to search for his staff as adrenaline rushed through his senses. He stood up, head pounding vivaciously while his sight slowly recovered. Again, he desperately clambered up to his feet, slamming right into a body that had fallen nearby him...

And when he looked down to find the shell of such a personage, his eyes widened when they made out the image of the Snow Queen. Even with deterred vision, Jack could clearly make out her sleek gown and distinctive white blonde hair, stooped over on the floor...

"Elsa...?" His voice was raspy, kneeling down to look at her. "Elsa!"

Blinking frantically, his gaze finally made out her expression. She was peering around the dungeon with great confusion, only looking up at Jack again when she heard that her name had been called twice. The alarm in her eyes was startling, and Jack swore that she looked several shades paler than she had seconds ago. Her breathing was shallow, shoulders hunched over as she clasped her hands in front of her. But the regal queen was just as brave as she had been when she had spoken to Pitch himself.

"Where are we?" She asked, azure eyes swerving to meet his, as if fearing that her sight had failed her. Jack exhaled deeply, looking around the dungeon to find Bunny hunched over on the floor. The sharp, long blade of the sword that had penetrated through his chest was still plunged inside deeply, but otherwise, he seemed to be regaining consciousness. Sandy was only a few short feet away, his face slowly inching from the cold ground to bask in the new scene that awaited him.

Erstwhile, Jack felt relieved that they had all arrived as safely as they had. He rested his staff next to his side, shaking his head firmly until he looked back at Elsa again.

"The North Pole, we're..." His voice faltered when his memory recollected the vivid flashbacks of ruthless slaves of men that had been manipulated on Pitch Black's behalf. But when he saw that shock began to settle over Elsa's expressions judging by her sudden wide eyes, he quickly cleared his throat and continued confidently, hoping not to scare her. "We're in the North Pole."

The young woman attempted to shuffle her legs from underneath her, perhaps with the intention of standing. But her movements were stalled when she gave a painful inhale of breath. Jack blinked again, gazing down at where she had attempted to maneuver her legs. He grimaced when he saw that a deep, grisly cleave had been marked across the back of her knee, likely from one of the men who had forced her down when Pitch had demanded it. Blood drained evenly from the wound, drizzling down the expanse of her leg.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding..." Intuively, Jack reached to press his cool hands over the fresh cut, hoping to soothe the pain by pushing a sleet of ice over it. Elsa looked mildly surprised by the action, stiffening at the ice that he had produced. A little heave of pain left her mouth, but otherwise, she looked indignant; staring searchingly over at Bunny, as if she should be the last of his concern.

"I'm fine." Her voice was small now, looking up to meet his gaze with a gesture of her head. "You should... Go check on your friend, rather than worrying about me."

"What, Bunny?" Jack asked, chuckling when he pulled his hands away from her injury. Waving gleefully at the Guardian of Hope from the other side of the dungeon, he shot both Bunny and Sandy a wide grin. "Heyo, hey! Bunny, hey! Still alive over there?"

Bunny made a grunt of annoyance, attempting to lean his head up on the wall without moving the weapon that had plummeted through the middle of his chest.

"Yeah, sympathetic dickbag. I'm still alive." He groaned, closing his eyes with a grimace. Sandy began to hover over him, trying to inspect the bloodless lesion, but Bunny swatted him away once he came too close. "Oi, don't touch me."

Guffawing silently, Jack spun back on his knees to look back at Elsa, who appeared neither amused nor surprised by his antics. But she shed a look of relief towards the fact that Bunny hadn't been vitally harmed.

"See? He's fine, don't worry about him."

Bunny gave a feeble chuckle, tilting his head back at Jack with a grim smile.

"Yeah, not too shabby for being stabbed in the chest and pitched through a time portal..." He winced again, bringing his legs down in front of him. Jack snickered under his breath, tilting his head to wink back at the guardian.

"Aw, you're such a punny bunny."

"... Please quit talking." Bunny's eyes narrowed with annoyance, rolling them swiftly until they met Sandy, who was still gazing curiously at the blade protruding from his chest. "Sandy, go and find Tooth or Manny, will you? Let them know we're back and we brought an unexpected guest with us..."

"_Back_?"

It was Elsa's voice that interjected then, barely more than a whisper, but harsh and frantic. It seemed she noticed the note of disarray in her own tone, hoping to correct it when her gaze returned to Jack. She straightened out her impeccable posture when every pair of eyes in the dungeon looked back at her, waiting for her to finish.

"Back from where, exactly?"

Lifting his brows, Jack thought that the answer should have been simple by then. But he answered her inquiry as soon as it was asked upon mentally reminding himself that this sort thing wasn't exactly... _Normal. _Especially not for a human.

"Back from Arendelle." His voice was low and informative, keeping his lips rested flat while he awaited for Elsa's reaction. And then, it seemed that Elsa had finally caught on. Her stare widened, eyebrows lifting up the span of her forehead as shock rattled through her.

"_Please _don't tell me we're in the future, Jack..." Her voice was a plead when she rested her shaky, slender fingers over her eyes. Jack hadn't perhaps thought about how distressing it must have been for her - being in a whole new generation that she didn't know a thing about - but once he saw the tremors that came over her, he tried to become consoling.

Consequently, Sandy had disappeared up through the elevator to search for North or Tooth, if she was nearby. Jack sighed as he readjusted his feet underneath his crouch, gazing at the queen who was visibly upset and shaken up.

"I'm sorry, Elsa..." He started softly, reaching out to touch the hands that she was hiding her face into. "We didn't mean to get you dragged into this."

But as soon as his skin made contact with hers, Elsa's eyes reopened and slapped his away; as if it was a natural instinct for her to do so whenever she felt pressured or scared. Jack jumped back with surprise, but he was patient. Feeling his stomach clench when she suddenly mentioned her sister that he had forgotten over the span of three hundred years...

"N-no, we need to go back. My sister, she'll be arriving home from her honeymoon in a week..." The emotional unsteadiness in her voice was difficult to listen to, as if her heart was crumbling at the thought that her sister could be harmed in any way, shape, or form. Gingerly, Jack felt himself grimace, gaze averting with guilt, especially when she fell back on a desperate whisper. "I have to keep her safe, if not anyone else."

Exhaling sharply, Jack was impulsive with his own decision making once more. Highly headstrong, he reached out to touch Elsa's shoulder, making a light shushing sound as his thumb ran over the fabric and sleeve of her dress for comfort. Elsa looked indignant at first by his quickness to touch her, but eventually, her wearied eyes wandered up to meet his again.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Jack murmured softly, smiling genuinely at her. Her stare flickered back towards her hands, but he felt just the tiniest jerk in the muscles of her arms, signaling that he might have been helping ease her discomfort - if only in the slightest way. "I made you a promise, didn't I? I told you that you were going to be fine - "

But it seemed that even if he made promises to her, that only made the Snow Queen more on edge. Ice began to blister over her fingertips, cutting him off angrily - like she thought that he couldn't possibly know how she felt. Albeit, Jack didn't know, but he wanted to try. Especially since he had seen the sorrow deepening in her eyes at the realization that he couldn't remember her.

"I don't care if _I'm _fine." Her voice was cool, eyebrows narrowing before she became exasperated. Jack snatched his hand back down to his side when he felt the flesh of his hand grow frigid, the longer that he tried to physically comfort her... "My kingdom has been _seized_, Jack! People are in danger! I can't just - just wait around here, three hundred years in the future!"

Jack opened his mouth to say something - anything at all, that might make the situation easier on her somehow - but he didn't have the opportunity, before hearing that the elevator had arrived through the corridor. Turning his head at the rattling sound, Jack was nearly knocked over when Tooth flew over the top of his head to reach the wounded Bunny. North blundered in shortly behind, taking one good look of relief at the Guardian of Hope, before his eyes seared on Jack. Sandy quickly hovered behind, following shortly after Tooth.

"What happened?!" North barked loudly. His beady blue eyes darted around the dungeon, as if someone was missing. "Where is Chronos?!"

"It was Pitch." Bunny started, sounding feeble when Tooth began examining the damage that had been done from the sword. "He took over the kingdom. He _manipulated _the guards into trying to kill us!"

"Oh, my... Bunnymund..." Tooth frowned, leaning closer towards him. Her lips pursed together while her small hands wandered over the weapon, giving it a soft tug by the silver handle. Bunny let out an estranged wail upon being touched, clenching his teeth together painfully. "This doesn't look good whatsoever, you'll need to be on bed rest for a few days until it heals..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Bunny promised, forcing another smile as he rearranged his shoulders against the wall. "Just a little beat up is all. I'll be back to normal in a day or two..."

"And who is this? Is this who I think it is?"

Jack nearly turned his head all the way around to find that North was staring hard at Elsa. And rightly so, the young queen looked as though her mind had been warped and turned inside out. He might have laughed as her eyes swerved back and forth at each of the guardians, if it hadn't been for the fact that he knew how nerve wracked she was. And therefore, Jack coughed and slid up on his feet again, holding his arms out while bowing his head.

"The Snow Queen, Elsa of Arendelle." He announced, beaming widely at the other guardians. Tooth's fingers had slowly began to ease the sword out of Bunny's chest, but one mention of the Snow Queen of Arendelle, and her head was turned to get a closer look - as if she hadn't noticed that she had been there at all before. But Jack realized that she likely hadn't, considering that Sandy probably had only given them information that Bunny had been harmed... Seeing as he couldn't actually speak himself.

"You brought her with you?!" North's voice boomed through the dungeon, deep voice resonating off of the cellar walls. He saw Elsa's shoulders jump in surprise, but quickly came to her defense on the matter. After all, it wasn't her fault that she had ended up where she was.

"It's not like we made that choice!" Jack shot back, peering up at North's towering frame confidently. He ran a hand swiftly through his hair, pausing only momentarily to reach down for his staff again. "Look, Pitch broke some time portal thing and he sent us back here in the middle of the fight!"

"Don't you know how dangerous that could be?!" Eventually, North's widened gaze wandered back to Elsa, noting how startled he had made her. His face softened at the sight of her, bowing his head some with apology. "No offense, your majesty..."

Surprisingly, it was Bunny who spoke up to stick up for him. A feature in itself, which had Jack smiling back at the guardian still laying sprawled out on the cellar ground when his voice was heard. Tooth was hovering upright again, looking nervous. Jack thought for a moment that she might make her voice heard, but perhaps she too had been emotionally trotted down by Pitch's ability to create fear.

"No really, mate..." Bunny coughed harshly, eyebrows furrowing together deeply. "Jack's right, we didn't have a choice. And we were almost lucky, at that. Either we were going down or we could have killed some of those men coming after us. They were under Pitch's control..."

North began to pace, thick fingers roving over his beard. Jack tried to steal a glance back down at Elsa again, to gain an inkling of what she could be thinking. But her face was suddenly flat and impassive, eyes averting in favor of the floor...

"And Chronos? You didn't tell me where he is yet." North's voice disturbed Jack's concerned train of thought. His stare jumped from the queen and up to meet North again, feeling his stomach clench at the fresh memory of Pitch obliterating the coiled chains into dust that had held the Guardian of Time as their prisoner. He seethed, gritting his teeth together before gaining the courage to tell North what had happened.

"Chronos escaped..." Lips barely parting as he answered, Jack's fingers formed a fist over the handle of his staff; crackling ice stretching out over the long wooden rod. "Pitch broke his chains somehow."

Just when Jack had been anticipating that North would grow temperamental and angry, the Guardian of Wonder hadn't. Jack blinked in confusion, observing while North exhaled deeply and placed one of his palms over his forehead. Silence filled the dungeon whole, every eye looking up to await what his reaction would be thereafter. Until finally, North breathed deeply and managed to crack a smile that caused hope to tingle at Jack's irritated nerves.

"Hooy na ny..." The guardian muttered scathingly in Russian, pausing as his hand peeked between his fingers to look at Jack for another answer. "Only the chains, I hope? The cuffs were still intact?"

Jack tried to recall the scene, bit by bit. But everything had flown by so quickly that he couldn't remember all of the events that had taken place down to the bated seconds. Scratching his head, Jack thought that he _did _recall that Chronos had still had some form of confinement over his hands, even after Pitch had broken the chains.

"Err, yeah... Now that I think about it, they still were." He looked up at North again, feeling confused. "Why?"

North chortled louder than ever at the sound of affirmation, clapping his hands together.

"Because as long as Chronos has them, his powers are still dainty!" North exclaimed triumphantly, beaming back at Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny, who all looked equally alleviated by the information. Jack was midway between a grin when one of North's massive arms curved around his head, feeling the breath nearly knocked out of him when North began to tousle his hair with one of his fists. "Fortunately, since I was the one who placed them on him, I am the only one who can release him!"

In the same motion, North abruptly released him. Jack nearly toppled over from dizziness, straightening out his bare feet against the ground. But Santa Claus still had other questions to be resolved, turning around abruptly to look at Jack with raised eyebrows.

"Is he still in Arendelle?"

But it wasn't Jack who had the answer. Instead, it was Sandy, whose squat form came rushing in front of North with golden dust trailing behind him. As usual when the Sandman tried to communicate, golden images appeared above his head. Jack raised an eyebrow in confusion, but North seemed to understand them at once, nodding jovially at the stout guardian with approval.

"Ah. Excellent eye, Sandy!"

"What? What'd he say?" Jack asked instantly, rolling his staff over his shoulder.

"Sandy says that Chronos was dragged through the portal as well - likely on accident - which means that our sweet Guardian of Time shouldn't be too far away, depending on where he went." North seemed prouder than ever, but Jack shook his head at the lack of detail, needing to know more when he reached to grasp his coat to explain.

"Depending on where he went?!" He repeated the words, wondering where in the world Chronos could have gone. "What do you mean?!"

North's fingers found his beard once, tilting his head from side to side in conclusive thought. "Well, he could be anywhere... But he'll be in this dimension."

"That's comforting." Bunny added glumly, rolling his eyes again.

"Yes, it is." North affirmed, a faint frown line appearing between his eyebrows. "And it is important that we find him as soon as possible, he is our only chance of getting back to Arendelle."

"But how long is that going to take?" Jack asked, already feeling defeated. His mind came back to the scene of Arendelle, the men who had willingly tried to kill him, Bunny, and Sandy; not to mention, their own queen. How much time did they have, before Pitch gained control of everyone there in his wake?

"It might take a little while..." Tooth's soft voice was finally heard from beside Bunny. Her voice gentler now as she considered the options that they had. But something in her longing stare told Jack that she was more than willing to find the Guardian of Time herself now, and that made a smirk reappear on his features with endearment. "Wherever Chronos is, he'll be hiding. He won't want to be found."

"Go figure..." Bunny added an extra dry _heh _to the end of his sentence. Jack appreciated his sarcasm, and he might have added to the sentence, but he felt the hair raise on the back of his neck when it was Queen Elsa who suddenly made her voice heard.

"So you're saying that I'll have to stay here until you _find _him?"

Jack slowly turned around to meet her. The Snow Queen had forced herself up onto her feet, despite the leg that continued to drizzle red fluids from the gutted flesh; Jack could see it clearly from the slit in her gown. She looked a bit sick now, grimacing as her eyes intensified on everyone in the room. But she didn't wear one look of fear, as ice began to crawl up the arms that she had folded; barely leaning on her injured leg, but doing so regardless. And it was in the moment, when Jack recognized that she truly _was _the queen that everyone had promised that she would be.

"My country is in turmoil! You can't expect me to just - to just _stay _here and wait until then!" She struggled to stand upright, lips curving downwards as a shudder came between her lips; shoulders shaking. "And my sister... She'll be coming home soon, I can't - "

A brilliant light emitted from Sandy, hovering over in front of Elsa's enthusiastically. She stared at the Guardian of Dreams, watching while the characters appeared above his head. Jack had never learned to understand what they meant, but he looked at North for closure just when Elsa did. North smiled again, nodding affectionately in Sandy's direction once he had finished.

"Sandy says that he will return to Arendelle immediately to send a message to your sister."

Elsa looked taken aback by the information, but there was something in her posture that told her that the news had relaxed her in just the slightest way.

"... He can do that?" She asked shakily, casting Sandy a very brief and thin smile.

"Yes. He will tell her to stay where she is... Right, Sandy?" North winked at the glittering Sandman, who nodded fervently in response to Elsa's inquiry. The young queen sighed, reaching up to cover her mouth with her hand.

"Thank you, but..." She paused, grimacing when she looked up at North once more. "I can't stay here, I need to go back - "

"We will get you back as soon as we can, your majesty. Do not worry, we're here to help you." North folded his arms proudly over his broad chest. But suddenly, there was a twinkle in his eye when he considered her again, leaning his head down to cast her a jolly smile. "And mind you, it is a pleasure meeting you in person after all of these years."

Elsa blinked with bewilderment, about to open her mouth to ask what North meant, but just when she did so, Tooth had already glided halfway across the dungeon to spin in front of her enthusiastically.

"Me too! I'll never forget when you lost your first tooth after that awful sledding accident in the castle with your sister...! You were so little! So much blood for such a tiny little - "

Jack deadpanned, pressing his palm into his face as he strolled out to reach Elsa again. His hand touched her arm reassuringly, shooting her a little smile when she tilted her head to look at him. And for the first time since she had arrived, Jack thought that she glowed a little more in appreciation, even if her country was on the brink of damnation.

"Guys, guys... Come on, don't freak her out, alright?" Jack had just begun to grin, but he could feel Elsa's hand clutching around the fabric around his wrist, giving it a brief clasp. He didn't even need to look at her to know that the gesture was there to tell him that she was saying thank you.

"Why would we freak her out, mate? You're the freakiest one out of the lot of us." Bunny chimed caustically, clearing his throat loudly to make everyone turn and look at him again. "Now, if you all don't mind, perhaps we could worry about the fact that I've nearly been impaled...? I'm not going to get this thing out myself, you know."

"Oh, right!" Tooth drifted back towards Bunny again, shooting him an apologetic smile. Jack heard Elsa take in a very deep inhale, before she held her head high once more and faced each of them confidently.

"Just promise me that you'll get me back to Arendelle as soon as you can." Her voice was small again, barely more than a whisper. North began to nod in response, but Elsa made the effort to politely interject. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude..."

"No need to apologize to these guys." Jack whispered into the shell of her ear, grinning impishly. But when he saw that she was struggling to keep herself up on one leg, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up next to him. Frowning, he turned to meet her gaze, which had - for perhaps the first time since they had arrived - thoroughly examined the deep cut, judging by the fact that she blinked with astonishment. "Elsa... Your leg is pretty damaged."

"I'm fine. I already told you." Elsa chastised him softly, sounding slightly teasing when she turned to smile weakly at him.

"Take her upstairs, the elves will be able to help..." North suggested, waving his hand towards the elevator that they had arrived through. Again, his eyes twinkled when he looked back at them, as Jack encouraged Elsa to lean some of his weight against him to help her walk. "Besides, I'm sure she needs some space."

"Thank you..." Elsa glanced over her shoulder to consider North again after Jack had begun luring them towards the elevator. "North, right?"

North chuckled, nodding his head fondly at her.

"North will do just fine, your highness."

Elsa's steps were slow and steady, but Jack was careful with her. Her eyes squeezed shut when she placed too much pressure on her knee, making Jack stop halfway down the corridor to the elevator with concern.

"Can you walk?" He asked her, attempting to strengthen his hold around her waist. Elsa nodded, keeping her gaze straightforward towards their destination, even if she didn't know where they were going.

"Yes."

But when she tried to outstretch one leg on her own, Jack sensed the frailness in her body and sought to keep her walking straight. He chuckled into her hair, keeping his staff straight and forward when he eventually guided them both into the elevator.

"Hold up there, little miss. I've got you..."

* * *

Upon entering the elevator that began pushing them up several floors, Elsa was able to lean up against the wall on her own. Jack caught her staring at the confinement with awe, as if she wanted to ask how everything worked. But it wasn't a question that Jack was given when he lounged up against the wall beside her. Instead, Elsa shot him a very amused look, raising both of her thin eyebrows while wearing a smirk of her own.

"'Little miss'?" She repeated his word regarding her age, teeth beginning to show in her slightly condescending smile. "Three hundred years or not, Jackson Overland, I'm still older than you."

For a second, Jack didn't think that she was talking to him whatsoever when the words "Jackson Overland" came sharply off of her tongue. But when the elevator finally came to a stop, Jack pushed his staff over his shoulder and came to her side again - glad that she seemed more accustomed to him now when her arm traced around the arch of his back - and began helping her out into the workshop. There weren't many places to take her, but he'd had enough opportunity in the last year to snoop around the Russian Palace to get to know the place. North's office seemed like the best fit, if he planned on finding an elf to help the gash against leg.

But as the seconds passed, Jack's heart rate began to jolt at the realization that Jackson Overland was _his _name, before he had become Jack Frost.

"That was... My name, wasn't it?" Somewhere - in the corner of his forgotten memories - he thought it sounded familiar. He even decided to try it out on his own tongue, to see how it felt... His voice barely more than a whisper, as he said it out loud for the first time unknowingly in three hundred years.

"Jackson Overland..."

Elsa's fingers clenched the back of his hoodie. Jack didn't know if it was her instinctive nature to do so, but he saw her bite her lip as melancholy spread through her eyes again, bowing her head as Jack lured her through North's workshop.

"Yes..." She reflected softly. But she didn't look up at him. "You don't remember that?"

"Nah. I don't remember anything..." Jack reminded her, pursing his lips in thought. Elsa seemed deterred by the news, even if she might have known it beforehand. And that gave the winter spirit the inclination to strive for the effort to make it up to her, attempting to lighten her steps as they walked. "I mean, I saw how I died last year. I saw my mom and my sister, but that was it."

And finally, Elsa did look up at him - her blue eyes wide with color and astonishment.

"You don't remember Pippa?"

The question made a chill rupture down the back of Jack's neck, but he didn't know why.

"Pippa? Who's that?" He asked, the corner of his lip curling into a crooked smile. Elsa's eyebrows grew together, shaking her head as she stared harder than ever - as if giving hope that it would help him remember.

"Your sister, Jack." Elsa whispered. The confirmation caused Jack's heart to drop into the middle of his stomach, having not thought before that Queen Elsa - of all people - could have known the girl that he had willingly sacrificed his life for. Even so, Elsa's voice was deeper now when she continued, recollecting something that had been so fresh to her, while for Jack... It had been centuries ago.

"She was devastated after you died. Half of Arendelle was..." Her voice cut off halfway. Impulsively, Jack wanted to more, lifting his head to ask two new questions all at once.

"Wait, you knew my sister? My mom?" The exhilaration in his voice was difficult to hide, making it difficult to focus on where he was taking Elsa. But when they finally reached the maroon staircase that led towards North's office, Jack picked Elsa's weight up easily. She inhaled sharply in surprise, but made no further obligation to argue with him.

And finally, she responded when they entered North's office. Jack placed her back down steadily on her feet, leading her towards North's chair residing promptly behind the enormous desk. But she didn't sit down at first. Their eyes met again, and Elsa spoke earnestly; something that sounded like anguish and loss clouding up her expressions when she reached up to brush his shoulder fondly.

"I know them now." She looked down, eyelids growing hooded. "Jack, you don't know how much we've missed you."

A waft of silence filled the office. Jack felt his eyes retract from hers, excitement fluttering like butterflies through his stomach at the prospect that _someone _had known him. Knew his family, even... And the little girl that he had seen only in his memories. And frankly, there was a part of him that felt scared to know who he was. Terrified of the thought that perhaps, he hadn't fully let go of the life that he had never known. So when his gaze met Elsa's again, he reached up to gently push her towards the chair behind her. But she didn't need any more encouragement to place herself there on her own, wincing slightly when she outstretched her leg out in front of her.

"Sit down here, I'll go and get one of the elves, alright? Just hang tight, for a second..." Jack took in a deep sigh, rubbing each of his hands on his brown trousers. He shot her an uneven smile, beginning to glide out of the room to search for someone to help medicate Elsa's leg. But just when he had reached the entryway, Elsa's voice called back to him.

"Jack?"

Jack turned around intuitively, casting her a look of concern.

"Thank you, again."

And before he knew it, three words escaped his mouth. Three words that he felt - in that moment exactly - that he had spoken to her one time before, even if he didn't know when.

"You're welcome, princess."

* * *

#IHOPETHISWASOKAY  
#IHOPEYOUSUFFER  
#NOTREALLYIJUSTLIKETHATSONG  
#Doesthisexplaineverything?

Is the Jelsa okay? Is it too forced? IFHuhfuehf... I HOPE IT'S FINE. I really grow giddy when I write them, no joke. They fucking kill me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes: **  
Ahh man, guys. I adore all of you. Thank you so very much for the reviews, favorites, and follows; you're all great. Writing this has been a pleasure. And ugh, this author's note is going to be really unbearably long. I wish I had a separate place to answer everyone's comments...!

**LilMate **- Hahahaha, a scythe...? I think he fights with a cutlass, actually. (SPOILER ALERT...) I wish I had any inkling of drawing skills so that I could get an image for him. He's been a real joy. ;)

**antelucem - **I pretty much sob to myself any time someone compliments my interpretation of Elsa. So thank you.

**Guest - **Oh, stahp it. I'm blushing. Love you too, bbycakes.

**x Cheetah x - **LOL... Honestly, most of Bunny's caustic nicknames for Jack are those that I use in real life. But I'm glad you appreciate them! ;) There will be plenty of Jelsa talking moments very, very soon. I've been looking forward to it~

**Dontmindme **- Oh my God, I didn't even think about that. That's fucking awful, just... WHAT THE HELL, MAN?! First Robb Stark, now _this_?! Actually, I've had the end of this planned out since I started it. But your idea is super clever. Me gusta.

**ArtCat12 - **Ah, erm... That's the kind of silly teenage drama that I like to avoid...? I've seen enough fics where Pitch wants to take Elsa's powers, yadda yadda yadda... I like to think there is more danger here because he has Arendelle under his control and doesn't give two shits about Elsa. But thanks anyway.

**Dissemination - **I was waiting for this logic to finally catch up with me, so bravo. ;) Let's be honest, there were a hundred different scenarios that the guardians could have done differently. This is like asking why Hiro from Heroes didn't just go back in time to make sure Sylar didn't turn out to be a murderer - it's for the sake of the story. Pathetically enough, I'll just say that this is simply a fanfiction and therefore all of this plot was made purely for Jelsa intents and purposes and I am perhaps not clever enough to come up with something more than subpar since I am a very mediocre writer. Although, to answer some of your questions on time loops... 1) Sandy is the only one apart from Chronos who can transport himself to the past, which is when belief in the Boogeyman was at its finest. So I like to think that Sandy couldn't take Pitch out on his own, though he did try (like when he visited Elsa in a dream). 2) There is no future/past Chronos. As I tried to have North explain (but failed miserably), there is only one existence for the guardians (too much Butterfly Effect for me...). Meaning Jack and company are taking a risk going back because whatever they do there erases what they've already done. There are not two versions of themselves. I know there is a word for that but I'm a mindless dickbag. There, I am very lame. I just like writing fanfiction, but I'm glad you asked. Yes, Arendelle will be saved...! Although with a little bit of bloodshed because that's just what I like.

When I started getting ideas for this fic, I didn't want to make it another story solely centered just around Jelsa. As much as I love them, I get tired of reading the fanfiction that only revolves around how much they love each other. That just doesn't make a real story for me. I felt the same way when I started writing Summer Shudder. I wanted it to be about loss, emotional connection, and comfort for Elsa, not just about the romance aspect. She's such a wonderful, well-rounded character that I cry myself to sleep when I see her shamelessly butchered in fanfiction. And that's all. Thank you again, Dissemination!

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter XI  
_

* * *

To Jack's fortune, the elves didn't take very long to find - especially since he didn't even know where they resided in the Russian Palace. But eventually, he located three of them that were busy pandering around North's workshop. They were crawling up on the shelves of assorted toys for children that the Yeti had made, looking to make them work when Jack had told them that someone was hurt and needed their help. And to his surprise, they were immediately very obedient - without speech, as always - but they allowed Jack to guide them back up into North's office. Elsa looked very astonished at the sight of their impish statures, red clothing, and little pointed hats.

"Hey, it's okay." Jack reminded her gently. He took refuge on the top of North's enormous desk, folding his legs underneath him. Elsa looked up at him for reassurance again. "They're here to help, I promise."

The young queen gave a small exhale of defeated breath before she finally allowed the elves to touch her. They began examining the laceration that had marred the back of her knee, pressing her leg up so that it rested on the top of the desk. And once again, Jack was surprised by Elsa's bravery; not making a single sound of pain, despite that her pallid complexion told him that she was. The elves made little humming noises together, until one of them began rummaging through one of the compartments of the desk. Jack watched them in wonder, laughing under his breath when the elf pulled out a white medical kit half its size; nearly toppling over to make the effort. But finally, when the material had opened on the floor, the elves began to get to work by firstly mopping up the expanse of blood and spreading a salve over the deepened slash.

When Jack's gaze finally eased their way up from the elves and back to Elsa again, he caught her smiling to herself. Her azure eyes had softened considerably, making him wonder what she could be thinking and unable to prevent himself from asking.

"What?" He asked, tilting his head with a crooked smile. "What are you smiling about?"

Elsa noticed that he had caught her smiling to herself, and instantly made the effort to correct herself by clearing her throat. "It's nothing."

"Come on, tell me." Jack lifted his eyebrows at her with amusement as he urged her to confess. Seconds passed, when the elves had begun to rub some kind of awful smelling ointment over the open cut. Jack was finally able to see how deep it was, grimacing at the sight at the grisly damage to the tissue underneath. But luckily, it seemed that whatever it was that the elves were using was numbing the wound. And after a little more than a minute, Elsa was speaking quietly with an answer for him.

"I'm just thinking about my sister." Her eyes were somber, growing hooded as she analyzed the elves beneath her. "She would love this, if she was here..."

While Jack liked to think that he understood the devotion of sisterhood - considering that he had died to save his own sister - he knew that he didn't. But he decided promptly that he wanted to try for her, if he couldn't do anything else but watch while the elves medicated her battered leg.

"What's her name?" Jack inquired curiously. A second smile flitted to Elsa's lips at the question, but it went away as quickly as it went.

"Anna." Her tone was hollow and matter-of-fact, keeping her gaze drawn on the elves who were beginning to assemble a surgical suture. Her eyes narrowed on the needle and thread, looking hesitant of it being close in her proximity. Jack strived to keep her distracted as much as he could after that.

"She's younger than you?" His questions resumed, looking at her firmly. Finally, Elsa turned her head for their eyes to meet.

She nodded, but only once. "Yes, by three years..."

"Tell me about her."

Elsa blinked, casting him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"What is she like?" Jack rearranged himself on the desk, resting the shepherd's staff that had been lounging in his lap in favor of leaning up against the desk from the floor. "I mean, is she icy like you, or...?"

"Icy? No, she wasn't born with powers. I was the only one." Elsa paused midway through the sentence, pursing her lips together thoughtfully; like she wanted to describe Anna in the best way that she could to make Jack fully understand. And finally, her mouth did open, sounding fond when she spoke of her sister. "But she's... Kind, open, free-spirited, and dreadfully obstinate. You would like her, she's... Quite a bit like I remember you."

A tiny smirk began to tug at Elsa's lips, like she might be teasing him again. Inasmuch, Jack lifted his eyebrows and laughed.

"Obstinate? Really?" He laid his chin down on his palm, trying to imagine how different he might have been when he was a human. Perhaps the longer that he spent with the Snow Queen, she might be able to tell him, even if Jack wasn't so sure that he necessarily wanted to know all of the details of his past life. It just seemed like something that he had finally been relieved of. Finally something that he had grown to comfort about... But even so, he couldn't help but react with a comical question of his own. "That's what you remember best about me?"

"No..." Elsa gave a breathy exhale of sharp physical ache; wincing down at her leg again. Jack raised his eyebrows to find that the elves had begun stitching the tissue inside of her knee without warning. But despite the stinging pain she must have been in, Elsa continued; keeping a weathered eye on the elves behind a grimace. "Actually, I haven't thought about that in quite some time."

Concerned, Jack scooted further down the desk in front of her in an attempt to sway her mind from the stitches. He kept his indigo gaze on her, leaning forward to impend his face closer in her vicinity; bare feet hovering over the ground while he shot her another smile.

"Hey. Hey, hey, hey..." Her eyes lifted from their spot on the elves to look hard into his, clenching both of her hands over her knees. Instinctively, Jack reached to take one of the hands. He felt a surge of frost tingle over his fingers, but she seemed grateful for him despite her flinching every few seconds. Her icy fingers clutched the inside of his palm, fingernails digging into his skin. Jack smiled politely at her in return, pretending not to notice as he further encouraged her to keep her mind off of the elves and her injury. "Just look at me, focus on me."

Elsa nodded slowly, looking hard at him. But finally, the fingernails deepening into his hand relaxed. Subconsciously, Jack brought his other hand over to cover hers; outlining the shape of her knuckles with his fingertips.

"Tell me more about your sister." Jack encouraged gently. He was glad that Elsa's eyes continued to meet his, even without him needing to remind her. "You said she was on her honeymoon?"

Elsa exhaled breathily, her answer short and curt. "Yes, with her husband, Kristoff."

"Do you like him?"

Another separate pause was spared, in which Elsa briefly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. But her eyes trained on his once more when they reopened to deliver his explanation.

"I don't know him very well, we haven't had the chance to really get to know one another, but... He's very kind. He treats Anna well and she's happy. That's more than I can ask for."

From that line alone, Jack began to think that Elsa was a very aloof person. He found himself wondering how many friends that she had back in Arendelle, but decided quickly that it wasn't any of his business to ask outright. Even if it did seem odd to him, that she hadn't managed to get to know her own brother-in-law. Subsequently, he shifted on the desk and asked more questions in relation to the topic, since it seemed like discussing Anna was the only thing that gave the young queen faith in the chaotic situation whatsoever.

"Where did they go on their honeymoon?" He hoped it wasn't anywhere near Arendelle that might give Elsa another relapse of panic.

"France." Elsa answered quickly, sounding more determined than ever to focus her foresight on Jack and their conversation rather than the elves sealing up the gutted flesh of her leg. "Anna's been wanting to go there since we were children."

"But she never did before?" Jack raised his eyebrows, feeling mildly confused. "Aren't you guys royalty? You could go anywhere you wanted, right?"

Elsa's eyebrows furrowed, lips crushing together. Jack thought that she might have been examining him shrewdly. Her stare wandered up to find his eyes, looking up to stare at his white shock of disheveled hair. And in the end, they reattached to his gaze.

"I wish you could remember who you were, Jack... Because you would already know that answer." Elsa murmured. Her eyes averted in favor of the corner of the room.

"But I don't remember..." Jack admitted pathetically, giving her hand a squeeze in hopes of making up for his lack of memories. The gesture caused Elsa's lips to jerk into a feeble smile.

"I know." She looked up at him again, wearing a wistful expression. Jack was about to open his mouth to respond further, but Elsa quickly cut him off. "Actually, I never told you... The reason why my parents locked down the castle for thirteen years. That was one of my regrets, after what happened to you."

Despite that Jack initially wanted to ask her why she regretted such a thing - since he was sitting right in front of her now - he instead found himself taken aback by the concept of being locked in a castle. Was that really the _truth_?

"Wait, hold up, thirteen _years_?!" His tone was skeptical at first, sounding distinctly appalled by the idea. "You never left the castle?!"

"I did a handful of times, in secret..." Elsa reflected in a soft voice. Her eyes peeked up eventually to meet his. "How do you think we met, Jack?"

"Oh, I see..." Jack began to laugh jovially, shaking his head before waggling his eyebrows playfully at her. "You were sneaking out to meet a _boy_."

The comment served to embarrass the Snow Queen, whose cheeks flushed the lightest shade of pink at his suggestion. Jack laughed harder, even while Elsa desperately tried to explain what had really happened.

"It wasn't like that! Heavens, you and Anna _are _the same..." She cast him a reproachful glare. Jack grinned, bringing his hand back from hers to rest it on his knees. But his expression of teasing didn't falter once as he leaned his head up proudly.

"So you met me while you were sneaking out?" Jack asked playfully. He had to admit, Elsa seemed particularly _regal _on all accounts, so it was hard for him to imagine her breaking the rules.

"Yes." Elsa huffed, eyes continuing to narrow at his form of boyish teasing. "And you made sure that I would come back to see you again. I told you that you were stubborn. It seems that some things never change."

"Even though you were isolated in the castle?" Jack paused, unable to resist making another joke as he placed his hand over his mouth and chuckled. "Heh, _ice-_olated..."

Elsa didn't look amused by the pun in the slightest, although Jack wondered if she had even caught the reference. Instead, the young queen rolled her eyes and smiled gently; as if the aforementioned memory was one that she held very close to her.

"Well, you were very persuasive..." Her eyebrows lifted again, pressing her lips into a teasing line. Jack simpered, reaching up to ruffle the back of his hair. Another impulsive query came out of his mouth before he had time to stop himself - not even taking time to consider what the outcome could be.

"What about your parents? Where are they?"

As soon as the question left his lips, he knew from the way that Elsa's face shifted that it wasn't going to be a pleasant result.

"They died, out in sea on their way back from a trip to Corona." Her voice was mostly toneless, as if it was an explanation that she had prepared to give anyone who asked. Jack immediately tried to back away from the subject, bowing his head lamely.

"Sorry..." He muttered, wishing that he hadn't been so insensitive. To his surprise, Elsa didn't seem even moderately upset that he had asked.

"No need to be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong." She reminded him, making the smallest effort to make her lips form a thin smile.

"And what were they like? Your parents?" Jack dared himself to glance at her again. Parents were always a curious concept to the Guardian of Fun, who couldn't remember his own. And therefore, he was interested in what Elsa's mother and father had been like. Even if the young queen took in a deep breath - peering sideways back down at her leg again - before she finally gazed back at Jack.

"My mother was... Soft. Gentle. Very shy, reserved, and quiet, but she was friendly. She loved reading, art, and sewing. The most remarkable thing about her was that she was so incredibly conscious to detail..." Her voice was calm, expressing all of the love that she had for her mother in just those few sentences. Jack blinked curiously, wondering what that must have been like. Having a mother to love unconditionally... He found himself thinking about it, tearing his abundant thoughts away only when Elsa continued to speak about her father. And again, there was nothing but fierce devotion and affection attached to her words.

"And my father was... A little stern and strict. But he had a noble, fair heart and sought to make sure Anna and I were happy... And he cared infinitely about Arendelle. It was his pride and joy, serving as the king..." Elsa paused, releasing his hand before she finished. Her smile was more genuine now, meeting his eyes with gratitude. "Not a day goes by when I don't miss them."

Jack exhaled, bringing his hands back to his sides; pressing his palms flat into the desk. He leaned forward to sneak a glance at the elves, who had finished stitching Elsa's leg and were now trying up wrap gauze around it despite their tiny frames. Silently, he wondered how North had taught them how to accomplish such a task, but didn't vocalize his considerations. Instead, he looked back up at Elsa again and offered her his best cheekish smile.

"Well, don't worry. We'll get you back to Arendelle as soon as we can, Cinderella." He promised, amused by the nickname.

"Cinderella?" Elsa lifted a thin eyebrow at him, moving her leg so that the elves had more room to work.

"You're a queen, aren't you? Cinderel_sa_."

Again, Elsa made a very massive eye roll, but it got her to smile again at least.

"I'll surmise that I'll never get over the fact that you think you're so funny." Her voice was a half-amused drawl now, folding both of her arms in front of her as she inspected him. Jack puffed his chest out dramatically, hoping that he might get her to laugh at some point, since he hadn't seen more than a dozen smiles out of her since they had met that day.

"I am funny." Jack reminded her, pointing at himself. "Guardian of Fun, remember?"

Unfortunately, his efforts didn't work. Instead, Elsa's head inclined downwards towards the elves again; keeping quiet. Jack was about to ask her what was wrong, but he didn't have the chance to. The young queen was already bringing up her concerns again.

"Jack... Can Pitch be defeated?" The questions turned around on him, looking for discreet answers. Jack felt his shoulders slacken some, unsure of how to convince her that everything was going to end up okay in the end... "Isn't he a spirit like you and the rest of the guardians?"

"We can't get rid of him, no... But we can stop him." Jack murmured, hoping that might comfort her in some way. But it didn't; her eyes flickered to his, looking drained at the concept.

"How?" Her voice was small, but Jack grinned inadvertently.

"We'll find a way, I'm sure of it..."

A creaking sound emitted through the room, meaning that someone had entered through the office door. Jack craned his neck to find the towering figure of North at the doorway, glancing over at the sight of them at the desk with consideration. The twinkling in his eyes still remained as it had when they had left the dungeon underneath the North Pole.

"Ah, I thought I'd find you both in here." He hitched up his red trousers, strolling up through the walkway to take a good look at the dressing that had been made over Elsa's leg. The three little elves beamed above at him, waiting for him to appreciate their work. North smiled, crouching next to the elves while murmuring an appreciative thanks to them; commending them on their actions and how well they performed.

"How's Bunny?" Jack asked inquisitively, wondering how long it took them to remove the sword that had plummeted into Bunny's chest. He couldn't help but smile at the image, wishing that he could have been there, if not only to tease Bunny.

North pulled himself back onto his feet again. "He's perfectly okay. Tooth stitched him up well, but he should be back to normal in a few days... He'll be staying here."

"And Chronos? What about him?" Jack didn't know how many questions he could ask in one day, but he felt himself grow weary of them.

"Tooth and I are going to look for him shortly. Sandy has already made his way back to Arendelle. Hopefully he'll gain some information on what Pitch is doing with the kingdom now that their queen has gone missing..." His eyes briefly searched to meet Elsa's face at the mention of her, whose expression was flat again while staring up at him. But even so, North made the effort to sound a little more hopeful.

"How are you feeling, your highness?"

Elsa considered him thoroughly, forcing herself to smile politely. "I'm fine, thank you..."

But even when she said it, Jack knew it wasn't the truth. Yet he made the mental scheme to keep the attention off of the Snow Queen, doubting that she wanted any of them to spend another minute worrying about how she was. So with a deep breath, Jack looked up at North and brought another trivial question into their foresight.

"And the lights?"

"Fading, hour by hour. But thankfully, Christmas is only two weeks away, so that should help." North frowned, speaking solemnly. The thought of going on an adventure to search for Chronos made Jack's heart race in his chest, grinning with excitement as he leaped eagerly to his feet and stood proudly in front of North. His hand clasped around the handle of his staff that he had left resting against the desk, burning with anticipation at the Guardian of Wonder.

"I'll go with you and Tooth. When are we leaving?" Finally, it was a question that he didn't feel less enthused about. But a pang of quietude overcame the office when North looked down at him. Jack felt like he was being studied, feeling his smile fade the longer that the silence pursued.

"Jack, could I talk to you for a moment, in private?" North encouraged softly, despite that he was already making his way out of the office door. He looked back at Elsa again, casting her a jolly smile. "Excuse us, your highness."

Obviously, Jack didn't have a choice, but he followed after regardless.

"Yeah, okay..." He cast one last glance at Elsa before gliding out of the room, meeting up with North halfway down the corridor. Landing lightly on his feet, he waited for the guardian to finally turn around to face him. And when he did, Jack didn't bother covering up his frown while he came up with endless possibilities of the new scenario up ahead. "What's wrong now?"

"The situation is very, very messy, Jack. I'm sure you've noticed..." North sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. Jack shrugged his shoulders, feeling his will power deflate some.

"Yeah, so...?"

North began to pace in front of him, footsteps heavy against the carpeted floorboards.

"So... Queen Elsa is here all by herself. Three hundred years from the present that she knows..." North continued, as if he was purposefully stalling on where the conversation was going. But Jack held his head high and fierce, waiting for the punchline to be delivered. "And you are the only one that she trusts. Tooth and I decided that you should stay here, at least until her leg heals."

Jack opened his mouth in protest, feeling instantly overcome with bitterness and that his choices had already been decided for him.

"But Bunny's here! I'm just as fast as you guys are, I'm sure all of us will find him faster if there are three guardians out there looking for him!" He tried to object the new plan of action, but North didn't comply. Instead, the guardian only closed his eyes and smiled.

"We know that, Jack. We do not underestimate you... But it's better if you stay. We can worry about Chronos... And when Bunny feels better, he can help us too. For now, it's important that you stay here."

Finally, Jack deadpanned and gave in. Even if he didn't want to admit that they had a point and purpose for keeping him at the North Pole, it didn't lessen the fact that he suddenly felt very useless. He glanced sideways with a gaze of great resentment, posture slackening with defeat.

"Fine..." He murmured dishearteningly. North rested his big hand over his shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze of admiration.

"That's a good lad." He beamed widely, retracting his robust arm to begin chastising him. In which case, it was Jack's turn to rolled his eyes. "Now, treat the young lady fairly. She's a queen, you know. Make her feel at home - "

"Yeah, yeah. I got it..." Jack spun his staff over his shoulder, contorting his expression into a look of annoyance. "I'll take her up to one of the guest rooms to let her rest."

"Good." North concluded cheerily, waving at Jack when he began to glide up through the hallway again. He had just about reached the office door when North suddenly called back to him, causing him to turn back around again. "And Jack?"

"Yeah?" He tried to keep the irked tone out of his voice when he responded, but he didn't know if he had or not. North was responding to him just as informatively as before, sounding slightly more hesitant than he had during their previous encounter.

"It might be wise to inform the queen that her powers will be necessary to defeat Pitch."

"What do you mean?" Jack took a few steps back towards North, hoping for an answer. But North merely shook his head, backtracking on the stray subject entirely.

"Forget it, we'll worry about that later... For now, I must go with Tooth." North insisted, chuckling as he began to turn and trek down the staircase. Jack tried to blurt out something to make him stay and give him a precise explanation, but he didn't have the chance to. "Hold down the North Pole while I'm gone. You're in charge."

"Heh, yeah... Bunny's going to love that!" Jack called back, laughing heartily under his breath at what Bunny would do if he overheard North's comment. But after another sharp exhale, the Guardian of Fun was already making his way back into the office again.

He was surprised to see that Elsa's demeanor had changed significantly upon entering. Now that her leg had been bandaged, she seemed to glow a little more while sitting up in the office chair where Jack had left her. The color of her face was less green, wearing a blanket around her shoulders while sipping at a mug that had been given to her. Jack blinked as he approached, watching silently while she admired the elves beneath her. They were portraying some kind of scene for her on the floor, making her chuckle into the hot contents of her drink.

"Well, look at you. You're starting to look better." Jack commented optimistically, leaning against his staff as he approached her. Elsa looked back at him fondly. "Did the elves get that for you? What is it?"

"Tea." Elsa said calmly, lips tugging into a tiny smile. "Did you want some?"

The comment caused Jack to express a look of disgust, curling his lips over his teeth and into a grimace.

"Ew, no... You actually drink that stuff?" He said it with great disdain, shaking his head at the thought while staring down the ceramic mug with a glare. Albeit, Jack had only tried tea once in the last three hundred years, but that had been enough for him. And it would never happen again, so long as he existed.

Elsa rolled her eyes - perhaps thinking him childish - before making a caustic remark of her own. "No, I hate it. Thank you for reminding me."

"Ha, ha." Jack retorted playfully. But he carefully took the confinement of her tea, placing it down on the desk, before turning to help her out of the chair.

"Where are we going now?" Elsa asked, sounding strained as she neatened her posture by holding onto his shoulders. But once she was up on her feet, it didn't seem that she needed any more help to walk, which was a relief. When Jack looked down at her again, he saw how visibly exhausted she was. There was a deep shade underneath her eyes bearing testimony to it.

"North says you should rest. There's a room upstairs that you can stay in."

While he thought that Elsa would jump at the opportunity, the young queen took him by surprise again.

"I'm not tired." She insisted, reaching for the mug where Jack had left it. Temptation was at its finest to point out to her how fatigued she appeared, but Jack didn't feel like arguing with her. And therefore, he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave her a different solution.

"That's okay, you don't have to sleep. I'll stay up with you, if you want. But you still have to keep it easy... At least until your leg has healed, alright?" He hunched his shoulders so that they were on eye level, taking the tea swiftly from her again. Elsa shot him a glare, reaching out for it as soon as it had left her hands, but Jack successfully and swiftly brought it away from her grasp. He grinned at her adorable huff of irritation.

"I'll hold this, Cinderella. Come on, let's get you settled down..."

* * *

I'm so sorry about every pun that I made in this chapter. I kid you not, people I know in real life have to deal with them on a daily basis. And sorry if this awful or the Jelsa is bad or something...

#verybadauthor  
#cannotdothis  
#notgood  
#Ineedmoresleep


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Notes:**  
Muchos gracias for the reviews, favorites, and follows. I feel like this story is failing hardcore and my writing blows chunks. Lulz. At least it's just a fanfiction and not a legit story... This will be short because I'm really tired. I've written over 50k words just in two weeks since this has been published. I think it's finally catching up to me.

**Follia Della Rovina & Kuhlare12 **- I make the worst puns in existence. I'm pretty sure Elsa is just about as sick of them as you are. ;D

**hydro0228 **- It'll end on a happy note for the most part, but... Ah. I can't give that away yet. I hate stories that end entirely on happily ever after. It just isn't realistic to me.

**Crimson Gamma - **Nooo, I haven't read that, either...! I like to compare myself to Carlos from Magic School Bus. He is my spirit animal.

**Dissemination - **I've never seen Men In Black 3, but I'll assume that's about right. The best I can compare it to would be like Evan from The Butterfly Effect or even Donnie from Donnie Darko. But yes. I know that there won't be a way to cover up every plot hole, but there's the gist of it. As for Elsa and Bunny getting all medicated and fixed up like pros, that's Wolverine/Dreamworks/Disney/Man In The Moon magic, my friend. ;) Sorry if it seems stupid as hell. I'm trying not to make this super cliche, but it is a fanfiction. Some things can't be helped. I wasn't going to add Chronos' capture into a chapter, but if that's a request, I could do it? YOU'VE INTIMIDATED ME NOW... I'M SCARED TO WRITE... I'M NERVOUS...

**LDrops -** Wowowow, thank you, deary. That means a lot. And yes, we were discussing Chronos... If you wanted to draw him, I would probably cry in appreciation, but by no means do I expect it.

**sfox88 - **Sorry if you're unhappy with the fanfiction, bro. I'm trying the best I can. Can't make everyone happy, I guess; I'm glad you liked Summer Shudder though.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter XII_

* * *

The Russian Palace was a majestic residence that Jack had been attempting to memorize for three hundred years, and now that he had been made the pledge as a guardian, he couldn't believe his fortune that most of the North Pole was at his disposal. He felt a great mischievous wave of impulse to go on his own adventure and discover all of North's secrets on his own now that the Guardian of Wonder was missing in action, but decided it would have to wait - at least until he managed to persuade the Snow Queen to retire for the evening. But somehow - as he lured her limping figure up another round staircase and into another corridor made of red carpet while holding her tea - he could see that she was truly just as stubborn as he was. A thought that was albeit admirable, but just as equally irritating.

The first stop they made was towards one of the main lavatory on the floor. Jack made sure to show her how everything worked, nearly toppling over with laughter as her eyes surged around the running water with fascination, asking curious questions on how everything _worked_. The winter spirit tried to explain it to her as best as he was capable without chortling, but he couldn't escape feeling amused by how much culture shock she must have been going through at the prospect of plumbing. There was a great part of him that nearly teased her about it, but stopped upon the realization that she would grow embarrassed by an effort to knowingly mock her about a new generation that she didn't know the thing slightest about. And therefore, Jack was quick to suggest that she rested again once she had stopped marveling over the way the sink and the shower worked.

Finally, the pair entered one of the bedrooms. Jack flicked on the light as soon as they entered - another thing that Elsa seemed fascinated and confused by - but she didn't make any further inquiries if she'd had any. It was a room that evidently hadn't been occupied in quite some time; leaving only a bed, an ancient wardrobe, and a square window, which displayed a great view of the outside of the North Pole, despite that there wasn't much to see. Jack could smell a stench of moth balls upon entering, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he began guiding Elsa towards the red and green satin bed. He nearly rolled his eyes at the fact that even the guest room was clashed horribly with Christmas colors, but didn't say anything outright when Elsa finally settled down. He brought one of the pillows under her injured leg, resting it there while bringing the blanket from the elves to cover her. Elsa seemed begrudged to be forced to lay down, but she was civil; saying thank you to his every move in gratitude. And finally, he brought the tea back into her waiting hands with a smug smile.

"And your morally repugnant liquid, your highness." He added, lifting one of his eyebrows. Elsa chuckled humorlessly, but drank from it deeply. Her azure eyes closed some, staring sideways at the scene outside of the window, but they quickly jumped back at him again; just as alert and weary as they had been.

"Can I do anything to help? To find the Guardian of Time?" Elsa asked intently, keeping her gaze trained on him. Jack sighed deeply in response, sitting down beside her. The last thing he thought that she should be worrying about was finding Chronos, of all people, since it wasn't her fault that he had managed to escape. But he rested his staff down to lounge against the side of the bed regardless, folding one leg underneath him as he sat down beside her weakened frame.

"North and Tooth are looking for him as we speak." Jack promised, attempting to sound as earnest and consoling as he could. "We'll find him though, I can promise you that."

"But he could be anywhere, couldn't he...?" The disheartenment in her voice was not difficult to spot, and it caused Jack to shake his head again in utter disbelief that she could be so uncertain about where the situation was headed.

"Stop being so pessimistic! Would it hurt to look at the bright side?" He shot her a crooked grin, awaiting for a small smile in return. Yet doubtlessly, Elsa no longer had a smile to give as she placed her tea beside her, staring away from him again.

"I'm sorry, I'm just..." She paused, pursing her lips in careful thought - like she might have been trying to convey how she felt in those few words alone. Truthfully, Jack didn't know how she felt. Especially since he had never been the sole provider for a kingdom, but he wanted to _try_, at least. And finally, after a few seconds of silence, Elsa continued; her gaze not turning to look at him once, despite that he saw her fingers were beginning to clasp the blanket around her. "Very worried and scared that Arendelle won't be there when I get back. And Sven and Olaf, I can't imagine what has happened to them..."

"Who are Sven and Olaf?" Jack's question came out his mouth carelessly, feeling his eyebrows shoot up the span of his forehead at such bizarre names.

"Sven is Kristoff's reindeer." Elsa explained shortly. "Olaf is... A snowman."

"A _snowman_? You're worried about a snowman?" The amusement in Jack's voice was difficult to hide after that, nearly laughing at the idea of the Queen of Arendelle, of all people, growing nervous about what Pitch could do to an inanimate body of snow. But at the sound of his second question, the corner of Elsa's mouth dragged into a little smile. Her hands clasped together in front of her, rubbing the inside of her palm before she responded again.

"Well, he's not just an ordinary snowman."

Jack exhaled, wondering how to soothe her. Even if he didn't understand what she meant about Olaf not being an "ordinary snowman", he didn't want to press issues about what could be going on in Arendelle. Instead he rearranged his legs on the mattress, crossing them from underneath him as he faced her.

"Just have some faith. Everything will work out just fine..." Despite that he felt like he was repeating promises that he didn't know how to keep, he wanted Elsa to believe him. Her mouth tugged downwards into a frown again at the sentiments, causing Jack to rustle the back of his hair with frustration - seeing that nothing could probably change her mind. It made him wonder, who was _truly _the one who was obstinate now?

Jack then strived to change the topic by gesturing around the room with the tilt of his head, making another additional effort to smile at her encouragingly. "Anyway, you can stay in here... If you need anything, I'm sure the Yetis will come around."

Elsa blinked at the new word, turning to offer him a confused expression. "The Yetis?"

Jack chuckled again at her lack of knowledge, despite that it couldn't be helped on her behalf. "Yeah, they make the toys... Kinda look like snowy Chewbaccas."

"_Chewbaccas_?" She sounded frantic now, like she needed to know what Chewbaccas were as soon as possible when her eyes widened on him. Jack had great difficulty covering up his laugh into a cough.

"... Cinderella, you have got to get with the times." He told her comically, attempting to keep his mouth from forming another amused grin as not to deter her. "You'll meet some of them shortly. If you ever want to come down to North's workshop with me, that is."

The corner of her lips gave a feeble jerk, stare resting down one the hands in her lap. She seemed to give it consideration, but nothing more than that before she reflected softly. "Maybe..."

Once more, Jack's fingers found his hair. As the Guardian of Fun, he had always endeavored to make others feel better, but Queen Elsa was proving to be _impossible _on that spectrum. The thought made him wonder what he would have done when he had been a human, but knew that he had no knowledge of that period in his life. And therefore, he leaped from the bed and faced her with his hands on his waist.

"Are you hungry? I can go and get you something." Offering her an ecstatic grin, Elsa's eyes slowly looked to blink at him.

"I don't think I can eat anything right now." She answered gently, raising an eyebrow at him. But even that wasn't enough to make Jack reconsider.

"Nonsense, I'll go and make you something right now." He insisted, clasping his hand around his staff to firmly rest in his hand. It had been his intention to leave before she could make another word of protest, but she beat him to it.

"Jack, really, you don't have to." Elsa tried to say, voice fading slightly. Jack looked up to shoot her a glance of disapproval.

"I know, but I _want _to. Okay?"

Elsa frowned, eyebrows knitting together sternly. "Don't you feel tired after what happened today?"

Jack nearly laughed aloud, but again was reminded that she didn't know very much about anything that centered the universe that he was accustomed to. So instead, he waved his hand dismissively and gave her a very plain answer. "Nah. I'm a spirit, Elsa."

It took the young queen a few seconds to take the new information in. She sucked in a deep breath, as if thinking hard about her next question before releasing it. "So you can't sleep?"

"I can sleep, sure. But I don't need it." Jack shrugged his shoulders, rolling his staff over his shoulder with a grin. "Sorta like how you don't feel cold, right?"

"I suppose..." The connection seemed to make it easier for Elsa to grasp and her eyes eventually wandered back up to his. "But you can't feel cold now either, can you?"

He hadn't precisely thought about how their mutual components until now, but it was a factor that made him fill with high spirits. Never before had he met someone who shared even the slightest powers to his own, but the thought was oddly comforting and strangely coincidental all at once.

"Nope. I guess we're the same, like that." He winked at her, before spinning around on his heel to glide out the door in search of something for her to eat. Just as he reached the doorway, he paused to throw her another friendly pledge. "I'll be back soon."

And he could have sworn - out of the corner of his eye when he turned down the hallway - that he had seen Elsa smiling fully amongst herself. Perhaps at the realization that for once, she knew that there was someone like _her_, even if she had known him all along.

* * *

The kitchen in the Russian Palace was in an utter state of _disaster _when Jack arrived downstairs in search of food. It was very apparent that North's elves were working tirelessly to deliver Christmas that year, and for the first few minutes, Jack couldn't find anything normal to consume beyond frosted cookies and candy. Ergo, he had never needed food on his own, and therefore knew how to cook very little. But he tried to the best of his abilities to compile something that was edible, even if not on the standards of a queen (despite not knowing what queens consumed on a daily basis). And eventually, Jack had proudly assembled a tray of breakfast, something that Jamie had taught him to do in their spare time when his mother was away from the Bennett household. But when Jack returned to the guest room - beaming at the sight of Elsa, sitting up on the bed with her leg propped up - his mouth fell open in awe at what she was wearing.

A blue nightgown - modest for the ideal of a queen - but sleek and shiny, made entirely out of ice. Her long, white-blond hair spilled down her pale shoulder blades from its confined elegant braid. And for the briefest second, Jack had forgotten what breathing was.

"What the...? Where did you get that?" He asked naively, sounding astonished while stepping carefully into the room. Tray still held out in front of him, he stared at the nightgown with great admiration and wonder, nearly choking from envy when she answered.

"I made it." Her slender fingers ran through the top of her hair and through the ashy-blonde strands, staring back at him absentmindedly.

"Out of _ice_?"

"No, I found it in North's wardrobe while you weren't looking..." Elsa's voice was sarcastic now, lips making the effort to smirk when she looked up at him fully. "Yes, out of ice, Jack."

"Thanks for the mental image. I'll be sure to share that with Bunny later..." Jack reflected, snorting lightly at the sound of her teasing him in return again. At least that was something that he could count on... But it didn't end his fascination with how she made her own clothing out of ice. "How? I mean, how did you do it?"

Elsa began to rearrange herself nonchalantly on the mattress again, wincing some when her leg came in contact with the pillow. "Same way that you produce ice out of your staff, I'd imagine..."

"Can you show me how?" Jack questioned, thoroughly excited by the prospect of a new challenge towards his ice persona.

Elsa considered him, lips pursing together smoothly before she opened her mouth again. Her fingers came up to cover herself in the blanket. "Maybe... I don't know, I've never taught anyone before."

"Alright." Jack grinned ecstatically, about to make way for her instruction immediately. Until he realized, of course, that he still carried the tray of breakfast with him... Coughing lightly, he instead straightened out his posture and came closer to her; gesturing at it with a nod of his head. "Well, I brought this for you - "

"What is it?" Elsa interjected curiously, craning her head up to get a better look.

"Eggs... Bacon... Toast..." Jack felt himself grow embarrassed the longer that he narrated the items on the plate - a feature that was in itself - causing him to backtrack when Elsa began to smile knowingly at him with amusement. That, of course, caused Jack to grow slightly defensive. "Okay, okay! It's all that I know how to make. Just eat it, alright?"

"I told you I'm not hungry." Elsa explained quietly; her voice was soft, as if she was hoping not to offend him. She seemed to acknowledge that she had made him feel belittled, however; causing her to bow her head in appreciation. "But thank you very much for the consideration, Jack. You are very kind."

"Whatever, fine..." Jack sighed, feeling himself deadpan. He turned around with humiliation to place the tray on top of the antique wardrobe - snatching the bacon off of the plate - before turning back to the young queen again. "Just show me how you make clothes out of ice, I want to learn."

Returning back to sit at the corner of the bed again, Elsa studied him thoroughly. She looked pleasantly entertained by his enthusiasm and didn't make any objection towards his request. Jack swore that she even appeared somewhat elated herself, perhaps at the thought that there was someone who _could _learn from her. But instead of commenting on the matter, Jack simply waited for her guidance while casting her a wide, boyish grin; chewing at the bacon that she had forfeited to him.

"Okay..." Elsa started precisely, picking up her hands. She nodded towards him, frost beginning to form between her hands and making threads and patterns of ice as she demonstrated. "Put your hands together like this..."

* * *

It must have been an hour of Elsa attempting to teach him how to conform ice into a web of fabric, but in the end, Jack only managed to form nothing more than a poor excuse of _slush _that didn't melt upon physical contact. The young queen had requested smaller items of clothing for him to try, like socks and scarves. She showed him many different methods of the technique - even shaping a glove around his hand, to see how it felt when it was made - but the most Jack had managed to fuse was a stringent of sleet that was nothing near the impeccable nightgown that she had contrived over her body. Eventually, Jack gave up by laying his back on the foot of the bed with the realization of defeat. He pressed his hands over his eyes, not even wanting to look at her since he had failed so miserably.

"Ugh, I'll never get this down... Way too complicated for me." He muttered indignantly, only peeking up between his fingers when Elsa's voice returned. She sounded encouraging, like she had throughout the concentrated period of time when he had done nothing but produce failure.

"No, no... Actually, this one looks okay." She smiled warmly at him, holding up one of the pairs of socks that had _sort of _held together. But with just one jerking movement, the collaboration was gone. And again, Jack concealed his hands over his face to hide his deep shame. "You just need to focus more on the fabric aspect, and not so much... Slush. I know it isn't easy. It took me years to get this down."

It took Jack several seconds to regain his confidence before he finally perked his head up to look at her, interested in the life she had lived in Arendelle and one that he had likely known beforehand.

"While you were locked away for thirteen years?" He rested his arm over the top of his forehead, casting her a considerate glance with a breath of a laugh. "I'll bet that was boring..."

"It was far less boring than it was terrifying." Elsa responded simply, leaning her head back on the pillows now that he had stopped prodding her about learning her garment technique.

Jack felt his eyebrows lift involuntarily, staring hard at her from the foot of the bed. "Terrifying? Why's that?"

"I couldn't control my powers." Her voice sounded thick with exhaustion now, looking up at him from the slant of the headboard. But her voice was quiet and reflective, staring abstractedly away from him and in favor of her hands. "My parents thought the best solution would be keeping everyone out, afraid that I might hurt someone."

"Did you hurt someone?" Somehow, he couldn't imagine that she would have ever harmed someone on purpose. But Elsa didn't give him many details when her answer came, only one that sounded far away and very concise.

"Only Anna..."

Again, Jack's curiosity was piqued, but he decided not to go down that route of inquiries in fear of prying on a touchy subject judging by the resentment and sigh in her voice. So instead, he mulled over what he might have known about her when he was Jack Overland.

"Did I know about your powers?"

"Briefly." Elsa paused to consider him, expression flattening before she continued. "But I never told you about them."

Jack laughed loudly, sitting up from the mattress. "Why not? I thought we were friends."

The young queen seemed to freeze on spot at the mention, gaze averting as she brought a hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"We were friends..." Her voice was tentative, hardly more than a bare whisper. "You were my only friend."

Even if Chronos had mentioned the possibility before, Jack didn't know why he suddenly felt a great weight of guilt press down in the middle of his stomach. He wanted to ask how it was possible that someone of Elsa's status as a queen could possibly only have one friend. But when he reminded himself that she had been isolated for thirteen years, the idea no longer seemed far-fetched nor implausible. So instead, Jack focused on being a spirit of solace for her; knowing that was what she needed, even if she would never admit it. He started by leaning his leg up from underneath him and resting his chin on his knee to meet her at eye level. And finally, after a few seconds of analyzing at the gentle slopes of her jaw and the contours of her angular face, Jack's voice came out reassuringly.

"But you're still my friend, Elsa."

He could have sworn that her breathing had faded from her momentarily. But if it had, she quickly covered it up by looking up at him and giving him something that he didn't know that he needed from her previously: a genuine smile of elation.

"Thank you, Jack..." The gratitude that covered her tone whole made Jack feel ultimately fulfilled, unable to prevent his natural boyish grin from spreading over his mouth. He wanted to respond to her, but Elsa had separate intentions of her own when the next question came from her lips.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you..." Her voice faded, until she finally rested her hands in front of her and continued. "Become a guardian, exactly?"

"I don't really know." Jack exhaled honestly, shrugging his shoulders. It was his turn to peer out the window now, gazing down at the heavy snowfall from outside of the Russian Palace before he finally collected an answer that she might be satisfied by. "Man in the Moon picked me after I died. I guess he saw some good in me..."

"But you were good... For the most part." Elsa murmured, becoming teasing again when Jack turned his head towards her to find that she was still smiling. "Besides sneaking into the castle during my coronation ball by using someone else's name, anyway."

"Ha! I did that?!" Jack asked, laughing heartily at the tale. It definitely didn't sound like anything that he wouldn't have done... In any lifetime, guardian or not. "Sounds like me. At least it was someone else's name, and not someone El_sa's_..."

"Hilarious, Jack." Elsa rolled her eyes, rearranging her head on the pillows. But even if she tried to hide her smile, Jack could see that it was still there.

"I hope I was troublesome as I am now, otherwise I'll be disappointed." He waggled his eyebrows playfully, resting his chin on his knee to look fully at her. If she had any stories about what he had done when he had been a human, he wanted to hear them.

"Oh yes, you were." Elsa chuckled softly, but it was cut short by a wave of somber emotions when her lips crushed together. "But you were the only one who ever treated me like an equal. And that's something I never had the chance to say thank you for."

"You can thank me now, I'm right here, remember?"

"But you don't remember." Her articulation was growing more weary now. Jack suspected that she was finally allowing herself to accept the fact that she was clearly drained from the catastrophic events of the day. But when he tried to tell remind her that she should sleep, her questions resumed.

"Why did Man in the Moon take your memories?"

Jack scratched his head in wonder, dazed by the answer himself. It had been something that he had never known for certain and a circumstance that he had stopped caring about long ago. But he wanted to give her a ready explanation, especially since there had been a part of his life that had included her. At least he could be honest and he knew that she would understand.

"Again, that's not something that I know for certain." Jack scooted himself backwards until his back hit the wall. He wavered with consideration on his own theories before finally delivering an excuse that he deemed somewhat worthy. "But Chronos said it was because of him. I guess he went a little crazy after he became a guardian... It makes sense, but I don't trust the guy. I'm the only one who doesn't have their human memories."

"None of them at all?"

"None." Jack shook his head, fiddling with one of the strings on his hoodie for the sake of staring at anything other than the Snow Queen. "I mean, I saw some of them... Little images of my sister and my mother, from my baby teeth. Tooth has them in storage, since she's the Guardian of Memories and all. She has some of yours too, I'll bet..."

A pause emitted through the air, but Jack didn't dare to look up at Elsa again. At least not until she resumed her questions regarding his guardianship and when he had died.

"Didn't you try to come back to Arendelle to find out who you were?" There was a tone of hurt there, like she might have been suspecting that he hadn't even tried. In which case, Jack aimed to clarify any doubts that she must have collected.

"Sure, all of the time..." He wrapped the string around his forefinger, attempting to recollect the one scene when he had followed Elsa herself through the kingdom and into the castle. But it was so long ago and most of it was nothing more than a faded image. "I even saw you, once. But you couldn't see me... No one could."

"You visited _me_?" Elsa propped her head up to look at him, as if to tell if he was lying or not. Jack chuckled, allowing the string to flatten back against his chest.

"Yeah... But only once." Jack dared to sneak a glance at Elsa, acknowledging the new remorseful mask that took over her features. And again, he tried to sound inspiriting in any way that he could. "Don't worry about it though, I'm not offended. No one could see me, most people still can't. And I didn't even really know who you were..."

Elsa cleared her throat quietly, turning her head back to the window. "Well, at least you had the other guardians..."

"Nope, I didn't have them, either. I didn't even take my oath as a guardian until last year..."

"Then what did you do? Where did you go?"

"Everywhere." Jack grinned sheepishly, making an additional effort to shrug his shoulders. "I delivered winter, that's what I do now."

"But no one could see you?" Elsa hunched her spine up against the headboard, eyes narrowing at the thought that he could have been alone for three hundred years without anyone believing him. "_No_ one?"

"No one." The confirmation reminded him wholly of living day by day without even a sliver of knowledge to what his existence was made of. Wandering aimlessly with no purpose... But that wasn't something that he wanted to convey with Elsa, even if there was something that told him she already knew without him saying so outright. But he resumed the train of thought as he tucked his arms around his legs.

"I was alone for three hundred years for the most part. Until I met this kid named Jamie... You'd love him, I'll have to introduce you."

The thought of Jamie brought a very intuitive grin to jerk at the corners of Jack's mouth, fascinating idly what his young friend could have been up to at that very moment. He was probably wondering why Jack had disappeared so abruptly and without word, which had Jack making the mental note to visit him as soon as he could. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear Elsa's voice, barely more than a murmur as she struggled to stay conscious against the comfort of the bed. But when she did, Jack smiled gently at her.

"I'd like that." She remarked admirably, squinting up to peer at him. "And you can fly, right?"

"Yeah. When your leg gets better, we could go somewhere, if you want." Jack mentioned mellowly. Elsa shifted onto her side, exhaling deeply as she turned to look at him when he leaned over to tuck the blankets over her frame. "But for now, just sleep, Elsa. I'll be here when you wake up..."

"Can you promise that?" Her eyes widened sharply, as if she might reprimand him if he suddenly disappeared without word. But it only caused Jack to laugh and nod reassuringly, using his fingertips to brush the stray hair away from her eyes.

"Yeah, I promise. I'll be here."

* * *

Elsa is 110% done with my puns.

More Jelsa to come. I'm trying very hard to make their relationship more realistic/believable. Grahhfuehffwh... *jumps ship from fanfiction*

don't kill me please.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Notes**:  
Very many thanks to all of you who've favorited, reviewed, and followed. I cherish all of you like I do my coffee and energy drinks, which constitutes a lot of devotion. ;D With that being said, I apologize that there might be lack of action in the next few chapters because I want to focus on Jelsa. I didn't get the chance to give them much well-rounded attention in Summer Shudder, so that's something I want to write as thoroughly as I can.

**hydro0228 **- I do split up the chapters pretty awkwardly. I guess I could start writing chapters much longer, but that'd take me a few days between my insane work schedule and my free time. It's nice for me to just write for a few hours and be able to post something/think of new ideas in between. But I'll consider what you've suggested.

**theatre295 - **Thank you very much. I smile whenever someone says that to me.

**sfox88 **- No, no, my apologies! I must have taken something you said wrong. I'm thrilled you're still reading, though!

**x Cheetah x - **Your friends have to deal with my puns?! OH NO. Poor friends...! Take your time if you're busy, don't worry about reviewing. ;D

**Dissemination - **Writing fanfiction is very scary...! No, you're fine, I was just kidding.

**Burning Ocean **- Thank you muchly for the constructive criticism. Sorry that I'm not doing a very good job, I'm literally beating myself up over this fanfiction right now. The reason that I haven't been focusing on Elsa's emotions/closing off because of Jack is because I didn't want to make her seem over the top or dramatic. I planned on changing the point of view this chapter because I wanted to focus more on her. But it was hard to do obviously when Jack's observations were being given. Yes, I've seen Wicked. ;) Not a huge musical fan, but I like it. As for the baker thing, I haven't forgotten; I was getting to that. Elsa is hesitating to tell him anything about his human life because he closed off when she mentioned Pippa. Thanks for reminder, though. Sorry again about making it "out of control". *becomes a nervous wreck of natural disaster* I'm glad you like Chronos. His uh, biggest influence was a young version of Billy Idol.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter XIII_

* * *

For the first time in several weeks, Elsa was able to sleep soundly without the disturbance of nightmares or restless slumber. She dreamed of her sister, reveling happily in France on her honeymoon while she and Jack - whose hair was no longer a shock of brilliant white - flew overhead together, watching the pair from on top of a hillside. It was a dream that she found her conscience clinging to as she dreamed on, finding the image fade out when she felt herself jerk awake to find that faint sunlight was streaming over her face. Instinctively, Elsa turned over onto her stomach, hoping that when she opened her eyes she would be back in Arendelle. There was no Pitch Black, there were no guardians, and Jack Overland had passed away in a tragic accident the year before. But when she heard the sound of parchment being swayed like pages of a book being flipped - and recognized the unfamiliar feeling of satin sheets over her frame _- _she knew that she was forced to face the bitter reality of being in North Pole, just where she had fallen asleep.

Slowly, her eyes opened to bask in the scene of the bedroom again. The tray of breakfast that Jack had offered her on the top of the wardrobe, the smell of minty candy canes that flourished through the Russian Palace... Elsa took in a deep rattling breath when she finally had the urge to sit up. A surge of ache rippled through the back of her leg, causing her to make a small sound of irritation. And just when she had finally pulled her weight up from behind the headboard of the bed, someone jumped up from their sitting position on the floor to greet her. The young queen might have jumped from shock, if she hadn't seen the vibrant grin that Jack wore when he stood up ecstatically to face her.

"You're awake!" He chimed enthusiastically, throwing his arms up over his head. Elsa blinked some at the sight of a book in one of his hands - wondering idly how long he had been there - but felt across her forehead warily.

"How long did I sleep?" She asked dully, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles. Jack shrugged his shoulders, shuffling the book under one arm.

"Eight hours? Nine hours? I lost count..."

"You stayed here this whole time?" Elsa tried to keep the tone of surprise out of her voice, not to mention how very touched she felt that he might have stayed because she had made him promise that he would be there when she woke up. And now, she felt extremely foolish for making such sentiments. But fortunately, Jack's eyebrows trailed up the span of his forehead, jerking his head back and forth at her assumption.

"No way, are you kidding me? This is the first time North has left the North Pole unsupervised... I had a lot of places to check out." Jack explained in one breath before he finally paused, tossing the book onto the ground from where he had been sitting on the floor. "But I'm here now. I promised I'd be here when you woke up, right?"

Elsa exhaled sharply, wiggling her way out of the sheets to carefully maneuver herself off of the bed. Somehow, it didn't surprise her whatsoever that he would have gone out of his way to investigate someone else's property for his own troublesome endeavors. A thought that might have made her smile, she realized, when she pulled her stiff body into a sitting position and dangled her legs off of the side of the bed until her feet hit the floor.

"Yes, but I didn't mean it figuratively, Jack. You didn't have to stick around in this room just to wait for me..." She told him softly, attempting to smooth down the wavy chunks of long, white-blonde hair that had grown strangled overnight. When she finally looked up at Jack again, his smile had faded some. As if her words had offended him.

"But I wanted to." Jack reprimanded gently. Elsa watched him closely, observing when he finally began to come closer to her. He still wore those brown trousers, that strange thick long-sleeved shirt, and no shoes... It was difficult for her to hide the fact that she was amused, until he finally stopped in front of her and held out a plastic bottle of clear ointment that looked very similar to what the elves had used to stitch her leg back into place. Ergo, the young queen waited for an explanation before she took it from him. "Anyway, uh... The elves brought this by for your leg. They say to use it every couple of hours... I think that's what they said, anyway. They don't exactly talk..."

"That was very kind of them." Elsa tried to smile, despite that the corners of her lips faltered several times when her cool hand came in contact with the plastic. She eyed it over some before she glanced up where Jack had been on the floor, unable to soothe her curiosity. "What were you reading?"

"Uh, which one? I went through a couple, North has this miniature library outside his office..." Jack ran a hand through his disheveled white hair, before his bright indigo eyes landed back on her again. "_The Count of Monte Cristo_, _The Three Musketeers... _I like this Alexandre Dumas guy, he knew how to write."

"I hardly imagined that you would be the reading type." Elsa teased quietly, rearranging the strands of her icy nightgown over her ivory-skinned shoulders until her eyes met his again to further the joking matter. "Let alone that you knew how to read at all."

Jack's eyes lit up with enthusiasm, leaning over to place his hands on his waist. "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny... I'll bet you wish Bunny was here so he could laugh at your jokes..."

But even with Jack's new presence, Elsa's stare began to avert from him again. Her stomach churned at the memory of the evening before, when Pitch had seized her kingdom. The men that he had overtaken due to fear, the blood that had been spilled by her sharp ice plunging deeply into the body of another. A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature slipped down the back of her neck, causing her to shudder quietly. But Jack noticed right away - especially when she didn't initiate another chance at making fun of him.

"Still thinking about Arendelle?" He asked gently, squatting down to look at her. Elsa tried not to meet his gaze, but felt an intuitive instinct to do so regardless as her lips crushed together at the fresh memory.

"... Yes." She admitted slowly. Perhaps it was the loss that she had felt after Jack's death that encouraged her to trust him. The fact that he had been her friend, and that was a devotion that she had kept near her heart in the time that had passed. But even so, it was enough to help ease her conscience. Especially at the realization that she had missed him. "I keep imagining what might be happening right now... If everyone can see Pitch, or what he's doing to those who refuse to believe..."

The thought caused a surge of horror to flush through her, reaching down to clasp one frigid hand over the other. An action that had been purely habitual since her childhood, after Anna's accident... It had decreased since the year before, but she caught herself repeating the mannerism insistently as of recent events.

"Just try not to think about it, alright?"

Jack's voice shook her out of her thoughts, causing her stare to capture his again. For a long second, she stared at the eyes that seemed so foreign and familiar to her all at once. From the bright bronze color that they had once been, to the clearest of blue; swearing that she could see the shape of snowflakes in his irises. It bore testimony to the fact that he wasn't the same boy that she had met back in Arendelle, but it was enough to marginally soothe her.

"Can you do that? For me?" He tilted his head to the side, shooting her a very crooked smile. Elsa huffed, feeling frustrated that he couldn't know how she felt despite that he was trying to make the strife to do so. The frustration caused her to vocally interject, unsure if she could make the consideration to keep herself calm during such a troubling time.

"It's not that easy, Jack. I hold responsibility for the kingdom. If anyone gets hurt, or dies - "

"Stop thinking about that, okay?" Jack rendered her to silence again, causing her sentence to break before she was allowed to finish. Again, his teeth flashed another grin, tapping his hands on his knees from below her. "You said that you never had the chance to express your thanks for what I did when we were friends, right...? So just try, for me, if you can."

Biting at the inside of her lips for comfort, Elsa looked away again. She stared at the red carpet, remembering fully how she had felt the day of his death and all of those days afterwards. One thing that she had always wanted was to tell him how grateful she had been for his friendship. But now, he didn't even remember all of the good he had done, and the brief escapade of happiness that he had provided for her. A thought that heavily deterred her, especially since he had shrugged away her efforts to bring up Pippa. There was a part of her that was hesitant to bring up the Jack Overland that she had known to him, but in the end, he still promised that they were friends. And so long as she was there with him, she didn't want to waste time feeling sorry for herself or what had happened. Especially since none of it had been under her control.

"If that will make you happy, I suppose." Finally, she straightened out her regal posture and lifted her eyebrows to look at him. The corner of her lip tugged into a small smile, when she had another urge to tease him. "Have you ever considered that perhaps the world doesn't revolve around you?"

Jack chuckled with amusement, pulling himself up from the floor. "What? Never, I've never heard that before in my life."

Elsa smiled softly in return, eyes drifting to the books that he had discarded on the carpet. While her leg still twinged, she couldn't imagine moving around very much. And if there were books to be read, then the young queen couldn't envision any other better methods to pass the time. Unless Jack tried to learn how to create clothing out of ice again, but somehow, she felt that he had grown greatly discouraged from their last practice.

"Perhaps, if it isn't too much to ask... Could we visit that library you mentioned?" Her inquiry was hesitant, not wishing to ask for anything that wasn't available to her. To her delight, Jack blinked and nodded fervently.

"Sure we could. But after you're ready, we've gotta go downstairs because I asked the elves to make pancakes. And no one makes better pancakes than Santa's elves... Are you hungry yet?" His statement held so much information all at once that Elsa struggled to decide which bit of erudition she should respond to first. Frankly, she didn't feel much like moving around the North Pole, but there was an empty part of her stomach that reminded her how long it had been since she had eaten.

Therefore, she eventually gave Jack a single nod. "A little."

Jack's grin widened, outstretching one of his hands towards her to pull her up from the bed. And like usual, he was as buoyant as ever.

"Good. Now come on! I have our whole day planned out!

* * *

Living three hundred years in the future was not something that Elsa believed she could adjust to. Everything in the bathroom that Jack had explained from the day before had seemed ultimately easy to understand, but the young queen would have been lying if she said culture shock hadn't phased her when she finally managed to get the shower running. In which case, she was relieved to be clean, but felt promptly embarrassed once she had dressed herself and fixed her wet hair into a braid to find that Jack was waiting for her to finish right outside of the corridor.

Jack also did not bother to hide the fact that his was admiring her choice of clothing, beaming at the sight of her. Evidently, Elsa realized, that he had not grown any less cheekish than he had been three hundred years ago.

"Well, how was that?" He asked, leaning against the shepherd's staff resting on the floor. Elsa briefly eyed it, wanting to ask him where he had found the staff or if it had been given to him when he had been made the personification of winter. But instead, her train of sight crawled up to his smile again and released a sharp breath of her own.

"... Interesting. You say everyone has these?" She gestured at the bathroom door that she had closed behind her.

"Yeah, everybody." Jack laughed again, making Elsa feel far more insecure about herself the longer that he continued to stare. Clasping her hands in front of her again, Jack finally brought the staff over his shoulder and made an observation. "You did your hair up again."

"Yes..." She answered shortly, reaching up to run her fingers through her scalp subconsciously. Subsequently, she dared to peek up at him. "Does that bother you?"

Jack squared his shoulders, not making any effort to censor himself. "Nah. I just liked seeing it down, that's all."

It was a compliment that made Elsa feel highly off her guard, struck to speechlessness at a comment that was very offhand. But she didn't have any response to give it, especially when Jack turned around and hunched over in front of her.

"Anyway, come on." He encouraged, loosening the grip on his staff next to his side. Elsa raised a thin eyebrow at the action, unsure of what he was asking her to do.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was slightly exasperated now. Jack craned his neck over his shoulder, casting her an expression which read that he thought the answer must have been obvious.

"Giving you a ride downstairs, of course."

For the first several seconds, Elsa stood erect and appalled by his suggestion. Limping or not, she didn't feel that it necessitated the dire need to be carried. The thought alone was highly humiliating, and so, she attempted to saunter around him despite that the back of her knee gave a pitiful throb of anguish.

"I am perfectly capable to walk on my own, thank you." Her voice was cutting now, trying to correct him. But any friendship and relationship that she'd once shared with Jack was still as apparent as it had been before he had died. The white-haired young man quickly cut her off, looking absolutely set on the fact that she wasn't going to complete any walking of her own so long as she was in his company.

"Cinderella, get on my back before I pick you up myself." Jack threatened jovially. The narrow of his eyes was truly playful, but it didn't make Elsa feel any more comfortable when she tried to convince him that it wasn't an activity that she wanted to partake in.

"Jack - "

"Don't think I won't."

* * *

In the end, Elsa had begrudgingly complied to his wishes by being carried down the staircase. He held her up from behind him, bare feet moving easily across each step. Admittedly, Elsa had a hard time focusing when her head rested next to his shoulder - despite that she tried to keep their close proximity as far away as she could. Even so, she could not deny that there was something desperately familiar that clung to the smell of his hair. Memories lost or not, Jack still held onto pieces of his human persona; and that made her feel the slightest bit elated, despite that she didn't know why.

"Oh, this brings me back..." Elsa murmured, when he finally landed on the first floor. Her arms were grasped firmly around his neck, even if she didn't think he would have the audacity to drop her.

"To when?" Jack asked lazily, turning his head marginally towards shoot her a quick glance. She tried to focus on where he was leading them down the hallway, but found herself heavily distracted by their eyes being so close. Albeit, she'd had enough practice emotionally composing herself, and therefore went off to describe a prior tale of one of the few roguery activities that he had forced her to endure before her coronation ceremony.

"Once you bribed me into taking my shoes off when we were climbing up a hill in Arendelle because you wanted to show me a view over the kingdom." Her tone was slightly reproachful when she recalled the memory, even if it had been a fond one - despite that it didn't cancel out how embarrassed she had felt at the time. "It was humiliating."

"You took your shoes off? For _me_?" Jack's hearty laughter echoed out through the vaulted ceilings, luring them closer towards an open room that didn't have a door, like all of the others that she had seen so far. "I'm astonished...! Where ever were your queenly mannerisms?"

Elsa smiled some, releasing an exhale against the side of his face when she turned to look at him again. "Gone, evidently. The moment that you walked into my life."

"And do I still have that affect on you, your majesty?" Finally, Jack gently lowered her to her feet again. He was incredibly careful with her, turning around to shoot another broad grin when the question was asked. Elsa took a few seconds to readjust her gown before answering his question with a sly look and comment of her own.

"Perchance, Jack."

* * *

It was strange to Elsa that North's kitchen - filled with little elves, running back and forth and urging her to sit down - was directly in the same vicinity as the dining area. Although, she surmised that she didn't even know if it constituted that way when she realized that the table was hardly in usage. It was round and could probably fit a little more than four people, making her wonder how North had ever managed to sit there himself, considering his towering stature... Erstwhile, the young queen wasn't given much time to delve into her thoughts before the elves were bringing them stacks of pancakes when she and Jack had settled themselves down. They looked thrilled to be around her. Elsa remained primitively interested in the elves - hardly even noticing how the pancakes tasted - before Jack was explaining their behavior.

"Sorry, they're just kind of excited... North never eats in here and they've never met a queen before." He chuckled, surprising Elsa that he was actually using a set of silverware to eat. There was a great part of Elsa that wanted to remind him of when he had once been a baker and how he had once given her cookies when he had shown her the view of Arendelle... But the thought discouraged her further, since he had gone out of his way to avoid discussing who Pippa was.

"Anyway, aren't these amazing?" Jack continued, causing Elsa to glance sideways at him, taking a prompt bite from his fork. "Admit it, you've never eaten anything better in your life."

"That would be an overstatement." Elsa smiled, turning back to her own plate that she had hardly nibbled from. But upon realization that the elves were watching her every move, she reached to take a napkin from the center of the table and folded it over her lap. It was true, she realized, after taking several bits off of her plate that they might have been the best pancakes she'd ever had. But it didn't taste anything like the food in Arendelle did, and that bore another reminder that she was very far from home.

In an effort to distract herself, she teased Jack again about his eating habits - by nearly shoving one pancake whole into his mouth. "And you still eat like a barbarian, even after three hundred years..."

"B-barbarian?! Really?!" He choked some, coughing and pounding on his chest to finish swallowing before he turned to her with a playful glare. "Okay, Miss Perfect Hair and Frozen Dresses...!"

"You made that joke before." Elsa reminded him softly, pretending to sigh with defeat. Although it was difficult to keep from smirking at his reaction. "Really, three hundred years and you still aren't any cleverer...? I'm beginning to become disappointed."

Jack pointed his fork at her, offering her a smirk of his own. "I'll show _you _clever, little miss."

"And still with the 'little miss' comment..." Elsa resumed, making the effort to sound lofty and bored as she chewed. "I'm beginning to prefer Cinderelsa. Do you see what you've reduced me to?"

Jack made great emphasis to roll his eyes. "Whatever, Elsa. Just finish your breakfast so we can get to what I have planned..."

"What do you have planned?" Elsa raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he could show her, even if privately she found herself intrigued. The North Pole seemed gigantic and full of mystery, which was something that she hadn't ever imagined, even when she had been a child.

But Jack didn't give her an explanation. Instead, he simply waggled his eyebrows and finished off his plate of pancakes in a single bite. "You'll see."

"Always with the surprises, aren't you?" She tried not to smile as she said it, especially when Jack impended his face closer and grinned. It notified her further that he would never lose his charisma, reminding her - yet again - that she would never achieve such a complex; not in a lifetime.

"Always."

* * *

To Elsa's fortune, she didn't have to wait long to find out what Jack intended to do with the next hour of their afternoon. Before long, he insisted that he would be carrying her on his back again. And even though Elsa tried with all of the argumentative skills that she thought that she had to battle back his insistence, she lost. Jack took her around through the Russian Palace, showing her North's workshop. He introduced her to the Yetis, who seemed resentful at the sight of Jack; especially when he started playing with the toys on the shelves that they were working so tediously to make. Eventually, it drew to the point where Jack was doing it on purpose until Elsa grew weary that the Yetis might throw them outside if he continued.

When they left the workshop, Jack glided them forward through another passageway that led to where North had left his sleigh and reindeer behind. All of which fascinated Elsa, who allowed Jack to try and remember all of their names. But finally, they came back indoors where he gave her a tour of smaller rooms that had no designated purpose. Elsa found herself wondering to herself who had given North the privilege of living in a Russian Palace, but didn't vocalize her questions. Instead, Jack backtracked entirely and brought them through the workshop again, until they finally stopped in front of an enormous globe that resembled the earth. He dropped Elsa back down on her feet tentatively, allowing her to look at the suspended orb from overhead. After a minute of observation, Elsa saw a couple of the lights flicker before giving out entirely. And that was when she finally turned to Jack, after making a connection to something the guardians had mentioned in the dungeon.

"These were the lights that you mentioned to North?" Elsa turned to find Jack leaning against his staff again, one leg crossed over the other.

"Yeah... They represent every child that still believes in us. It's called the Globe of Belief." He picked up his staff, pointing it towards the globe that turned slowly. "You can probably see the damage Pitch is doing, right now..."

At first, Elsa didn't notice whatsoever. But when the globe finally turned back to the European continent, it was clear as day - very few lights still remained. And when Elsa tried to find Arendelle on the gigantic sphere, it wasn't there. Her stomach gave a hardened clench, bowing her head in realization.

"Arendelle isn't here." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper, mind whirling at the recognition that the future of loss was staring back at her. And she felt - for the first time since the chaos had began - that there wasn't a way to prevent it, a true horror that shot all the way up through her body from the base of her spine.

"I know..." Jack came beside her, reaching out with cool fingers to probe his fingertips against her forearm. It was soothing, but not enough to make her feel better. "No one lives there anymore. It's the aftermath of whatever Pitch is doing..."

The young queen exhaled sharply, tugging away from his reassuring actions. She looked up at him rigidly, squaring her jaw as she met his curious eyes. In the end, she only sounded accusing. "So that's it, there isn't a way to save my people."

Jack licked his lips, shaking his head. "I don't believe that. I think Man in the Moon has given us the opportunity to change it."

"But what if we can't?" Her voice was strangely hoarse now, hands reaching each other for the sake of keeping herself calm. But even when she looked at Jack demanding answers, she knew that he didn't have them by the look of bewilderment in his eyes. "What will happen?"

A great part of her mentality told her that she would be safe, but that meant very little to her. Anna was still three hundred years away on her honeymoon. And even if she had been asked not to return to Arendelle somehow, Elsa doubted that with her sister's obstinate nature that she would stay away for long. Especially if she thought that Elsa was in danger... And that thought alone sent a layer of brisk frost glazing over her fingertips, specifically when she imagined Pitch going anywhere near her.

"Listen, this is all going to change." Jack resumed optimistically where he had left off, pacing around her until he stood firm and center in front of the globe again. "I know it will, Man in the Moon wouldn't have let Chronos go with us to Arendelle if we weren't on the right path."

"And you can put your faith into a spirit that you've never met yourself?" The question came out of her mouth before she had any chance to conceal it. Frustration rattled through her senses, feeling truly incapable of controlling her frenzy when she was beginning to see what the future looked like for her and Arendelle.

"Hasn't failed me so far..." Jack reflected softly, reaching up to ruffle his hair again. Eventually, his eyes trailed back to meet Elsa's face, smiling warmly in her direction. "Besides, it can't be entirely coincidental that you knew me before I became Jack Frost, right? And now you're here..."

But anything that Jack had to say was drained out by Elsa's own conclusive thoughts regarding what Pabbie had told her. She thought about how he had mentioned that Man in the Moon had been watching out for her since she had been a child. At first, that sentiment hadn't stood out to her whatsoever - especially not when her country had been controlled by the Nightmare King. But when Jack came to mention that it couldn't be coincidental that they had met, she began to wonder what exactly Pabbie _had _meant, when he had brought up Man in the Moon and how he tied in with the future of Arendelle...

"What? What are you thinking about now?"

Jack's eager and concerned voice pulled her out of her thoughts. In which case, Elsa cleared her throat, bringing one of her hands up to run it through her hair thoughtfully.

"The trolls." She admitted softly, looking up to meet his reaction.

In which case, Jack looked at her like she might have been intoxicated. "Trolls?"

"Yes. They live in Arendelle, in the Valley of the Living Rock. I decided to visit them after Pitch came to Arendelle and started infiltrating dreams..."

"Well that sounds like trollble." Jack interrupted, shooting her a proud, uneven grin. It took all of Elsa's effort not to roll her eyes again. "Get it? Like trouble, but - "

"I get it." She told him curtly, gritting her teeth together.

Jack's smile faded at once, falling into a straight line before he asked another question that sounded interested. "What did they tell you?"

"A few things. Mostly about the guardians..." Elsa turned away some, rubbing the inside of one of her palms. "I didn't believe in any of you before that."

"Not even Santa Claus?" Jack asked, not bothering to cover up the fact that he was shocked by the news.

"Not even Santa Claus."

"Elsa..." Jack started again, cutting the physical distance that they had formed in a single, even stride. Elsa surmised that she would never grow accustomed to how long his legs were. But when Jack finished attaining her attention, she felt her cool level of composure begin to break at what he then decided to ask her. "North thought that I should tell you that you'll need to help us defeat Pitch, when we get back to Arendelle. Do you think that you can?"

Elsa frowned, warily taking a step away from him. Her eyebrows pulled together, knowing what his question really meant; wishing that he wouldn't bother to sugarcoat the truth behind his request. "You mean, fight the very people that have worked for my family for years?"

Jack looked slightly taken aback, but eventually - when his long fingers came up to trace his jaw thoughtfully - he answered with a blunt tone of voice. "I don't think there's a way out of that, so yes."

"Then the answer is no, I don't want to hurt anyone." She breathed in deeply, having already made her mind up from the night before. The abhorrence of facing her own staff members that she had known since her childhood, bearing blackened eyes and expression of vindictive slaughter was an image she knew that she would never forget. And inasmuch, she turned away from Jack, reaching around her front to cover both of her elbows with her hands.

"But you might be the only one who can do something about Pitch!" Jack called back desperately, releasing a huff of his own. "Look, I saw the way you used your powers. I'll bet your ice is more powerful than mine is, and I think Pitch was eager to get rid of you because he knew that you would be the only one able to stop him."

But even with Jack's reminder of the good that she could do - how she could aid the guardians in defeating Pitch - the vivid recollection of shooting a sharp throng of ice towards the men brandishing their swords to capture she and Jack did not fade. The blood that had soaked down the uniformed man's front from the impact of the sharp sleet, trickling onto the mortar of the castle courtyard beneath him until he finally collapsed... It was enough to cause Elsa to shake her head repeating, taking in a deep breath before finally was able to calmly respond to Jack.

"I wounded that man." She forewarned dryly, biting the inside of her lower lip. And she swore - when she began to describe him to Jack - that she could still hear his heavy body, crumpling downwards until he had crushed against the ground. Dread sank through her stomach, throat tightening up when she said his name out loud for the first time since the catastrophe had begun. "His name is Klaus. He's been working as a guard for the castle since I was nine-years-old... He has a family, Jack. A wife, children - "

"I doubt you killed him, if that's any consolation..." Jack inserted from behind her. Elsa grit her teeth again, turning around to face him, wearing a glower in all of the frustration and trauma that she had withheld.

"It's not, I don't know what happened to him." She added sharply, feeling ice form over her fingertips. Jack blinked, peering back innocently at her. But that didn't stop her from rounding on him accusingly, despite that she didn't want to be angry with him for trying to make her feel better. "Do you? Can you guarantee that I didn't fatally harm him?"

"No, I can't. But come on, Elsa..." Jack sucked in a deep breath, shaking his head once more. "You did what you had to do. Otherwise he could have been the one to stab you. We're lucky that Bunny was the only one who was hurt."

"Jack, even if I did want to fight, I don't know how to use my powers... Effectively." Again, her chin fell, azure eyes drawing to the floor and gazing without blinking. Her lips hardly parted, when she began to explain again, hoping that he might become understanding. "Everything that I did yesterday was a part of being emotionally compromised, to keep myself safe from being threatened... Certainly, I can change the weather, I can... Make it snow if I want. But the last thing I want to use my powers for is to hurt anyone."

Silence fell between them in the Nerve Center, and it was uncomfortable. Elsa fought back the urge to look up at Jack again, arms still crossed in front of her. Until finally, Jack piped in, sounding considerate.

"Well, I can teach you..."

"Teach me what? How to freeze someone's heart on my own violition?" Although she wasn't afraid of her powers anymore, the thought of turning someone entirely into ice - like she had the year before in Arendelle - was not something that she planned on revisiting again, if she could help it.

"You can do that?" Jack suddenly chuckled lightly, sounding insanely interested in such a prospect; impressed, even.

And finally, after what had seemed like ages, Elsa looked up at him with narrowed eyes and found herself hissing at him. "It isn't funny, Jack."

"I know, I know it isn't." Jack insisted. He scratched the back of his head, like he was at a loss of what to say. "Hey, just listen to me, alright? If there is one chance that you would be the one to take down Pitch - maybe, I don't know, freeze him into a glacier or something - would you do it?"

"Not if it meant harming someone in between." Elsa warned, keeping her gaze on him intentedly. But Jack seemed to be growing frustrated himself, as he swung his staff over his shoulder and began to close their distance again.

"Look, I know! I get that! You know those people who've been consumed by Pitch!" His indigo eyes were wide, training on her fully. But it was the ingenuinity in his words that caught Elsa off - making any hope for arguing fail, when she knew that he was being earnest. "I just want to help you get your kingdom back... And since we have similar powers, I could teach you how to _fight _with them, Elsa."

But by that time, Elsa no longer had the ambition to argue with him. Her head tilted away, thoughts caught up in what options she had. There was no way of getting out of taking down Pitch Black, unless she wanted to stand uselessly at the sidelines... And perhaps for the first time, she recognized that there was no other choice. Because if it meant saving Arendelle from what Pitch had done - and terror that peered back at her on the Globe of Belief - then there wasn't an option.

"Just think about it, okay?" Jack smiled at her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Only one word escaped her mouth, while mentally refusing to look up and meet that smile.

"Fine."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Jack's arm retracted from her shoulder. She heard him release a hefty sigh, refusing to look at him until the conversation had faded.

"You don't need to apologize." Elsa promised, straightening out her posture. Her leg began to ache, from all of the standing that had been done in the last several minutes... Jack must have noticed, because he chuckled, hunching his body back down so that he could carry her again.

"Now come on, I promised I'd take you to the library, didn't I?"

* * *

The walk down to North's office seemed much longer than any of their other visits had been that day. Neither Elsa nor Jack offered much conversation after their small altercation, causing the young queen to feel slightly guilty upon recognition that he didn't know that she had accidentally harmed her sister in the past based on the choices that had been made towards keeping her powers confined. But even when she tried to work up the courage to tell him, her own obstinance held her back. And instead, Jack let her roam through a small room that made up of a dozen shelves of books on her own.

At first, Elsa had felt thrilled by the sight of them, until she noticed that most of the books had been written in Russian. Discouragement had filled her whole until she spotted one that highly resembled the book that Pabbie had shown her back in his hut, but far more like the one her father had read to her when she had been a child. And once she had flipped through the pages with the pursuit of absorption, she finally returned to find Jack in the hallway waiting for her. He blinked as he readjusted himself from lounging against the wall, looking hesitant at first to ask her anything whatsoever. But Elsa was glad when he did despite himself.

"What did you pick?"

"Only one." Elsa answered informatively, edging her way towards him while turning the navy blue cover over in her hands. Her eyes returned to his, lifting her eyebrows with significance. "It's a storybook about you."

"About _me_?" Jack repeated her, as if he never heard such a thing. In which case, Elsa nodded.

"Well, you and the other guardians... I'd like to read about them, to see what I'm getting myself into." There was a hint of a joke in her response, one that Jack was happy to return when his grin came back.

"What, I'm not enough for you? I see how it is..."

Fortunately for Elsa, he didn't try to carry her again. A feature that made her faint smile falter, but it became much easier to inform him that it was time that she needed to be alone. After thirteen years in isolation, growing new to the prospect of getting to know others or fully trusting anyone had been difficult. And therefore, Elsa bowed her head.

"Jack, if you wouldn't mind... I think I'd like to be by myself for a little while." Her voice was quiet, waiting as the seconds passed for his reception to her request. But to her pleasant surprise, Jack didn't seem astonished whatsoever. And instead, as soon as the appeal was made, Jack began trekking his way back upstairs with her following closely behind him.

"Yeah, okay... I'll take you back upstairs to your room right now."

* * *

Boredom was the first emotion that Jack felt upon leaving the Snow Queen back to her bedroom, running his hands through his tousled hair while trying to decide where he had went disastrously _wrong _with where the afternoon had gone. But eventually, he trailed down the corridor until he found where Bunnymund was staying. The door creaked upon his entrance, slowly closing it behind him as he carefully sneaked up on the sleeping Guardian of Hope, who wore a strip of gauze across his torso from where the sword had been extracted. Grinning widely, Jack brought his staff up over his head, smacking Bunny hard on the forehead and jumping promptly out of the way for any chance that he might get attacked in return for his mischief making.

Bunny woke up immediately, forcing himself up into a sitting position to face his attacker. But once he saw that Jack was nearly doubling over while laughter roared through him, he began shouting angrily.

"Oi! What the devil?! I've been brutally injured so you decide to hit me with your stupid stick while I'm trying to rest?!"

"Heh, well if you remember, you did kick me twice yesterday to wake me up, so..." Jack grinned, tilting his head deliberately to the side.

"That's different, you deserved it. You're a jackass." Bunny grumbled, curling back into the bed again and pressing his arm over his face.

"You're a jackrabbit."

"That doesn't make any sense. Go away."

"Aw, come on, I'm bored...!" Jack tried to pout, resting his back against the wall. But Bunny wasn't having anything of it.

"Shouldn't you be keeping a close eye on the queen?" He growled under his breath.

"Nah, she's... Still pretty shaken up, so I'm trying to give her some space." Jack sighed, sliding down from the wall until he hit the floor.

"Poor lass. First Pitch, then her kingdom... And now she has to deal with you."

"Hey, I can hand her over to you, if you want." Jack chimed jovially, twirling his staff between his fingers. "You can do the queen watching while I go out and look for Chronos."

"Fat chance." Bunny mumbled gruffly. But finally, he peeked out underneath his arm to cast Jack a glance of consideration. "Besides, she trusts you, not me."

"Yeah..." Jack scratched his head, looking around the room fully. It looked more or less like the one that Elsa was staying in, holding more bitter realization that he had offended her that day. "Well, I don't even think she trusts me that much."

"Weren't you two friends or whatever?"

"Sure, but I don't remember."

"Maybe you should make the effort to remember." Bunny removed his arm from over his head to gaze back at Jack with a bland expression. "You know, to remind her that you're still you."

"Oh, she knows I'm still me..." Jack insisted, huffing slightly as he pressed his staff to the floor and rested it between his legs. "Besides, my human life is over now. I'm a guardian. And when all of this is over, she'll go back to Arendelle, we'll come back here, and... That'll be the end of it. I'll never see her again."

"So what, you're afraid of getting attached?" Bunny sounded greatly amused now, shifting his head sideways to cast Jack a smirk.

Erstwhile, Jack began to feel purposefully picked on, especially since he didn't know what to make of Queen Elsa whatsoever. But that didn't stop him from attempting to stick up for himself.

"Look Bunny, you have your memories before you became a guardian. I don't, not a damn thing... It took me over a hundred years to become comfortable with not knowing who I was..."

Bunny snorted loudly, rolling his eyes. "And that's what you're afraid of? _Knowing_? That's a load of bullocks, Frost."

Just when Jack had opened his mouth to retort, a click came from the doorknob of the room. Jack perked his head up higher - wondering if Elsa had come to find him again - but in his wake came Tooth, gliding in to offer them a disheartened smile. And he knew from that expression alone, that they hadn't yet located Chronos in the half a day that had passed. Regardless, Jack tried to stay positive as he pulled himself up onto his feet again.

"Tooth!" He greeted her buoyantly, rushing up to meet her before she entered the room any more than she already had. "You're back so soon! Any evidence of Chronos?"

"No, we checked everywhere he might have gone, but... Nothing yet." Tooth paused, seeming thoroughly dispirited. In which case, Bunny muttered a few swear words under his breath and tucked his head under his arm again.

"North is still looking. He wanted me to come and see how everything was... I need to make a stop to check on my fairies. You know, they've never delivered without my supervision! They're so excited!"

"We're great." Jack spoke up, nodding firmly at Bunny. "Right, Bugs?"

Bunny groaned loudly. "I told you not to call me that."

"Where's the queen?" Tooth asked, blinking a few times, as if anticipating that she should have been there with them.

"She's in her room." Jack explained dully, shrugging his shoulder half-heartedly. "Reading, I think... Actually Tooth, could I talk to you for a second?"

Tooth looked confused, meeting his gaze curiously, as if trying to decide what he would want to discuss with her in private. But eventually, she gave up on her investigation and nodded, leading the way out through the corridor again. "Sure, Jack..."

"Ugh, okay, just leave me in here all alone. _Whatever_." Bunny mumbled boisterously, looking over his shoulder to deliver Jack a scowl.

Jack chuckled, leaning out from the door frame to grin at him before shutting it again. "Says the guy who just told me to leave him alone."

Just when he turned around, however, Tooth was already alert for whatever his conversation could entail to. Her eyes were wide with concern, expression appearing hesitant.

"What's wrong?" She asked gingerly, as if fearing that something had gone horribly wrong while she was away.

"Nothing's wrong, really..." Jack mumbled, resting his staff back down against his side loosely. "I... Uh, I was just wondering about Queen Elsa's memories."

"Yes...?" Tooth answered, looking moderately relieved.

"Do you have them?"

"Well, some of them, sure." Tooth paused, as if she thought he was being conspiratorial somehow. "Why?"

"I just thought that maybe she would like to see them." Jack responded civilly, making the effort to smile. It hadn't been an idea in his mind for long, but after sitting by himself for several hours the evening before, the possibilities had grown endless. "Maybe it'd make her feel less homesick, if she could see her sister."

For a split second, he thought that Tooth was going to tell him that it wasn't possible. That perhaps, a human couldn't see their own memories. But eventually, Tooth smiled and agreed. "Sure, Jack. That's so thoughtful. I'll bring them back right away."

"Great! Thanks, Tooth!" Jack called after her, despite that the Guardian of Memories was already on her merry, speedy way back to Punjam Hy Loo. And at least - when Jack returned to Bunny's room to further antagonize his fellow guardian - he knew that Elsa couldn't stay away from him _forever_. And that thought elated him much more than he had thought it would.

/

* * *

Well my dears... I've decided that I need to take a little hiatus from this story. I really don't believe that I am doing it much justice (or jelstice, ohoho... pun). I probably just blow at writing Jelsa all the way around, but hey. I tried as much as I could... I probably should have just written Summer Shudder and stopped, like I planned originally. Fehfuhwfuwf...

Love you. Thanks again for those of you who have been super supportive. I'll let you know if I decide not to finish. At this point, I'm making myself nervous to write this anymore. Blahhhhhfuhefuwf.  
- A.V Storm


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Notes:**  
Fear not, my hiatus is over for now. But I'm still relatively frightened to write. Wahhhh. (I've also been horrendously busy with my real life and reading A Song Of Ice and Fire. I have much reading to catch up on...) Like always, thank you endlessly for the reviews, favorites, and follows.

**BurningStorm** - Ah, my dear, don't worry. No offense was taken. And you've mistaken Billy Idol for Spike/James Marsters from Buffy...! They do look a lot alike. ;) Feel free to continue to critique me. I suppose that I didn't have any other ideas for Elsa to discover the Guardians in order to have her believe in them. I'm a cliche whore.

**LDrops **- Now you make me wish I would have given Chronos a better description. I'll try in a future chapter to include what he looks like more fluently. ;) But his biggest influences were a young Billy Idol, Siegfried Schauffen, Axel from Kingdom Hearts.

**TheForeigner **- YOU'RE DANISH?! LIKE NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU?! *fans self*

**TAAG - **Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite authors as well. I love 'The Count of Monte Cristo' with every fiber of my being. The book, of course; movies never ever do it the justice that it deserves.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels  
__Chapter XIV  
_

* * *

The luminous electronic light that purged atop her room from the ceiling in the North Pole proved far more effective than any candlestick or torch that she had ever used back in Arendelle, Elsa realized. Glumly, she had returned to the chamber that had been offered to her as a guest of the North Pole, limping some across the bright carpeted floor until she found the bed. A strange influx of emotions began exult from her, varying from the conversation and near argument that she and Jack had found themselves in when he had shown her the Globe of Belief. It shouldn't have come as any surprise to her that Jack and the other guardians would have expected her to fight for her kingdom, yet it had; and now the young queen felt somewhat perturbed by how defensive she had become. And once she was alone, lowering herself back onto the soft mattress and leaning her medicated leg underneath a pillow again, she felt ashamed for making excuses, even if she knew why they were apparent.

Sighing deeply, Elsa closed her eyes to sink in the warmth of the room. The last week since Anna's wedding ceremony had been nothing more than chaotic, and she wished more than anything that she could see her sister again. The thought of being with Anna just once made her throat burn at the center, eyes beginning to feel smoldered and swim with the force of unexpected tears. But Queen Elsa had never been weak; not once in her life. And after years of practicing to conceal her emotions from the urgency of her father, she fought to obtain her sensible composure. And she won it, by deftly fixing her posture against the wooden headboard of the bed she had laid upon and reaching down to clasp the worn, navy blue storybook that she had found in North's library.

Flexing her jaw as she felt herself unwind to the royal blue cover, she focused on the pages at hand which illustrated the Guardians of Childhood. It didn't have a name from an author of any kind, which made Elsa wonder how accurate the descriptions were and how old it was. But her questions began to diminish soundly as she rested the book against her good knee and started through the passages, beginning with the Man in the Moon. Knowledge began to fill her mind, as the pages were flipped and information started building. She thought to herself briefly that if she had been handed the book a year ago, she still wouldn't have believed in any of it. Not the Man in the Moon, Pitch Black, Nicholas St. North... Not a one of them. But now it was as evident, clear as daylight to her that the stories were true, just as she had been told since her childhood.

As the pages were passed one by one and the minutes ticked, Elsa began to lose track of time. The passages regarding Man in the Moon, Pitch Black, the Sandman, North, Toothiana, and Bunnymund had all been finished until she hit the final chapter that a brilliant illustration of Chronos, the Guardian of Time. But there was nothing there about Jack Frost, which had Elsa's lips tugging into a tight frown of disappointment. Despite herself, as soon as she went looking for him, there was a knock at the door that caused her shoulders to jump back in surprise. But when she told the unknown personage to enter, it was Jack who stood there in her wake.

Any time she saw him, it was as if he had reemerged from one of her dreams. Bearing his shock of white hair that had once been an ashy brown, fair-skin that had altered to a dangerous white pale, and bright bronze eyes that were now a sharp indigo in comparison. In some ways, he was so much different from the young man that she remembered giving her cinnamon buns in the bakery. But he was still the same person, wearing the same glowing smile as he clicked the door back into place once he proceeded into the room. He held something golden in his right hand beside him, glittering against the light as he sauntered closer. But Elsa could not make out what it was, despite that she felt curious as to what he could have brought with him this time. At least, she reminded herself dully, he was no longer forcing her to eat when her stomach felt tight and constrained due to the events that had unfolded from Pitch Black's doing the day before.

"Hey..." Jack started uneasily, jerking his lips upward into a small smile. For once, he was without his staff in hand. "Are you doing alright?"

Elsa exhaled sharply, resting the open book face down on the bed beside her as she turned to face him. It was exhausting, that he should ask her how she was so frequently as he had in just less than twenty four hours. But after reminding herself that he was concerned, she answered promptly. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Sorry about what I said earlier. You know, asking you to use your powers against Pitch, or whatever..." Jack reached up with a free arm in order to tousle his already ruffled hair. But the last thing Elsa wanted to discuss further was their last sharp conversation in the Nerve Center of the North Pole.

Therefore, Elsa meekly nodded and gave him a considerate smile in response, pleased to exchange him another reminder of their previous conversation. "I told you that you don't need to apologize, Jack."

His tender smile grew wider after that, glancing down at the golden object that he had hidden at his side. Elsa inched her chin higher to get a better look at it, but didn't need to try for very long.

"Anyway, uh..." Jack muttered, sounding slightly reluctant; as if he feared hurting her feelings again. "I brought something for you."

Finally, he came up beside her and displayed the unknown to her. It was long and rectangular; barely shorter than Jack's forearm, the color of bright tawny on the outside. The inside was crested with other colors of purple, white, and green, carved into diamonds.

"What is it?" Elsa asked, staring it down carefully.

"Your memories." Jack answered simply, shrugging his shoulders. The thought firstly alarmed Elsa, wondering how he would have obtained her memories, of all things. But with the reminder that the Tooth Fairy was the Guardian of Memories herself, the idea didn't seem far-fetched as it once had. Inasmuch, Jack crept closer to her, sitting down beside her with his feet still perched to the carpet.

Elsa only looked up at him when he turned to shoot her an honest smile. "I figured you'd like to see your sister and your parents."

"These are _my _memories?" The question sounded so childish, leaving her lips which suddenly felt like rubber as she gazed down at the long cylinder. Luckily, Jack was there to provide her with all of the answers that she needed. Elsa was grateful that even in three hundred years, he hadn't lost his patience for her.

"Yeah. From your teeth... That's what the Tooth Fairy does." Jack explained, before turning to hand the object to her. It was surprisingly much heavier than she had anticipated, nearly weighing down her wrist once she had it firmly grasped. But she brought it closer, examining the bottom of the golden sheen. She blinked upon realization that there was a face there, resembling her own.

When Jack saw that she was wearing a look of confusion, he chuckled humorously. "It's a tooth box. Everybody has one..."

"How does it work?" Elsa asked, resting it between both of her hands as she analyzed the intricate designs closer.

Jack leaned towards her, profile facing her when he brought one leg up onto the bed and pressed one hand towards the center of the rectangle. "Well uh, you touch it, right here on the big diamond thing."

But Elsa did not initially take his advice. Instead, hesitancy rattled deeply through her bones, wondering what her memories would emphasize when she saw them. The fear of her own powers had been a great factor in her life prior to a year ago, and that was not something that she wanted to relapse with; especially since she knew - sooner than later - she was going to have to learn how to use them to her advantage, if she wanted to save Arendelle...

"What's wrong?" Jack's voice disrupted her thoughts, sounding concerned again. Elsa tried to smile for him, but felt herself heavily deterred.

"I... I don't know." She began softly, stare not leaving the tooth box once. "What's going to happen?"

"You'll just see your memories. You know, stuff you've forgotten about, maybe..." Jack scratched his head as he paused, beginning to lift himself up from the corner of the bed. "If you want your privacy, I can let you see them alone."

"No, you can stay." Elsa surprised herself, by reaching out for his arm to keep him there. Their eyes finally met when two of her fingers grasped the linen of his hoodie. But as soon as she made the physical inclination to keep him there, her hand quickly drifted back to the golden box in her lap. She made the effort to explain herself, feeling flushed at the impulsive nature of her own actions.

Then again, she reminded herself, Jack had always inhabited a subtle way of bringing out the side of her that had always wanted a friend that she could depend on. Regardless, their gazes intensified, until Elsa's eyebrows furrowed together to search for more explanations that she didn't yet know about.

"Is this how you were able to see some of your memories when you were a human?" The question was barely more than a murmur passing between her lips, but her eyes did not dare to avert as they searched Jack's eyes for clues and authenticity.

"Yeah..." Jack nodded, rearranging his legs from underneath him. And then he offered her a crooked grin, gesturing with the tilt of his head towards the tooth box. "Just go on, try it... I promise that it's safe."

Licking her lips warily, Elsa slowly turned her head back down to train her stare on the cylinder between each of her hands. For the first time, she noticed that it was made of a strangely cool metal that felt strangely familiar to her. And for a few seconds, she maintained as wary as ever, focusing only on what she might see beyond the memories of her childhood. But finally, by repeating Jack's promise like a mantra in her mind, she summoned all of her courage to press a forefinger gingerly against the pattern of the largest shape of a purple and blue hue of diamond. And upon her touch, the tooth box brightened like a small sun within her grasp.

Gasping some, Elsa watched as her fingers began to form an icy sleet over the whitened shapes, but was quickly pulled into the scene of her memories that she had forgotten and misplaced. And Jack sat beside her, eyes on alert while he saw the Snow Queen delve into whatever scenes the baby teeth presented. He bit the inside of the cheek with anticipation, thinking back to the time when Pitch had broken his staff in two and turned the other guardians against him. Intuitively, the winter spirit reached for the shepherd's staff that had been his beacon of hope over the last three hundred years for comfort, but remembered that he had left it back in the corridor before entering the room.

And then curiosity began to overlap any of his other emotions as he readjusted himself from beside the queen. He brought one leg to rest underneath him while he waited for the queen's consciousness to return to him. But all the while, as the seconds ticked and grew into minutes, he finally saw her smile. And he thought that perhaps he might have done something right by asking Tooth to bring the collection for her, wondering what the memories depicted.

Finally, the tooth box stopped glowing. Jack was on alert, ready for whatever Elsa would then say to him as she shook her head and focused her gaze directly on him. Their blue-eyed stares met as she exhaled sharply, before a beaming smile came to her lips. It was one that reached her eyes, before she rested the tooth box down beside her as she eagerly sat up to speak to him.

"Did - did you see any of that?!" Her voice was ecstatic, more light-hearted and happy than Jack had ever heard it before.

"Nah, only you did." Jack grinned in response, bending his head to the side as his eyebrows raised. "What'd you see?"

"My parents! I saw my parents! I saw Anna, I saw the trolls, I saw..." Her words were exhilarated, full of glee as she paused and cast him a calculated look. "I saw _you_, Jack!"

Jack was instantly taken aback by the information, feeling himself smile sheepishly as she looked at him with utmost joy. He had never considered before that her memories could have built a spectacle on his human life, and therefore, felt his eyes leave hers in favor of the golden tooth box that belonged to her.

"Me? Really?" His fingers found his hair again, locking themselves through the disheveled tresses. But his hand quickly jumped from his hair when Elsa reached over to clasp the box again, handing it out to him determinedly.

"Take a look." She told him firmly, azure eyes burning into his. Jack hesitated greatly as his own fingers brushed against her cool hand, encasing them around the cylinder. But he didn't jerk for it, in case she changed her mind.

"Are you sure...? They're your memories..." Jack tried to say, but Elsa looked upon him with such determination that he felt his voice of reason freeze in his throat.

"I want you to see them." Her voice was gentler now, letting go of the tooth box. Jack took it humbly despite that he felt intrusive.

"Okay..." He looked at her again, his own curiosity sending a mixture of tingles rippling down his spine from the eager way that she stared at him. "If you're sure..."

"I'm sure."

Silence cut between their conversation, making Jack feel like there could have been goosebumps crawling up his arms. But finally, as the seconds ticked and he felt Elsa peering at him harder than ever, he finally gave a fierce sigh. He trained his eyes on the decor of the tooth box, holding his breath as each of his fingertips pressed delicately on the centered diamond. And when the cylinder broke into a second stream of light, Jack was met and mentally encased with a new scene of Arendelle; passing through the memories of a much younger Queen Elsa.

* * *

The first cognizance showed her parents, looking down lovingly while Elsa demonstrated her powers. The king was a tall and lean man, bearing an elegant uniform with a carefully shaven mustache. His wife was beside him, statuesque like Elsa; her lips were thin, cheekbones high, and bright blue eyes. All of those features Jack realized belonged to Elsa now, who was no more than a baby in her mother's arms. She was tiny and couldn't be less than six months old, and giggling while her fingers clutched the blanket around her into a sheet of ice. But her parents were not angry - they were proud, Jack could see it in their smiles.

The scene molded into separate recollections moving quickly; from a toddler version of Elsa meeting her sister for the first time, Anna growing older, the pair bonding and playing with the snow and ice that the princess could create. Jack watched each of them with awe, feeling himself smile as the young girls endeavored through their childhood together. Until finally, there was one moment when Anna had been jumping onto bundles of snow of her sister's creation and Elsa slipped; hitting the strawberry-blonde girl across the face with streak of ice. Jack felt his shoulders grow rigid from shock, when the queen and king appeared and desperately took their damaged daughter to the Valley of the Living Rock.

The trolls were there, just as Elsa had said they would. But their words were not filled with condolences as they frightened the king, the queen, and a young eight-year-old Elsa who began shutting the world out. The memories took a swerve over Elsa's childhood that had grown into a daily misery, despite that her little sister begged for her to come outside when she barricaded herself in her bedchamber. But it was evident that she was suffering as she struggled to control her powers, emotionally deteriorating until nothing was left but a feeble girl who was afraid of nothing more than herself. Jack saw that she desperately tried to learn the control of her powers, but failed every time. It was difficult for him to watch as the youth drained out of her into a young woman, who held the face of grief and detachment; especially when she had been delivered the news that her parents had died while out on sea...

And finally, the setting changed from Arendelle's phenomenal castle walls and Jack saw himself. He felt himself lose his breath, seeing himself there just as he had his own memories. He appeared more or less the same; slender and quick to smile. But his hair and eyes were both significantly darker, an image that Jack could never fully adapt to. And he was offering the queen cinnamon buns from the bakery. A million questions came hammering to his mind all at once, desperate for answers as he watched himself coerce with the princess who was soon to be named the Queen of Arendelle. He had given her a necklace made of a stone, asking her to come back to see him as their mediator... Jack could hardly believe his own nerve, but decided quickly that it wasn't anything that he wouldn't do now. And it was impossible to ignore the fact that he was clearly enamored by her, when they had spoken in union about their younger sisters. A human Jack was filled with solid pride, while Princess Elsa was uncertain; swearing that nothing could be done with their relationship that had crumbled.

But then came another memory, perhaps a few days after their engagement at the bakery. Jack was insisting that they walked up a rocky hillside together and that there was something that he wanted to show her. Their words were teasing, bantering back and forth with heavy sarcasm; especially when Elsa began to fret about saying something wrong in a different language. They called each other names all the way up the slope, until they were finally granted with an extraordinary view of the kingdom. And Jack was more consoling than he had ever thought that he was capable... Even if Elsa took a jab at him for not wearing shoes every chance that was available to her. However, Jack felt himself grinning, especially when he told her not to return to necklace to him - yet again - until she and her sister had solved the issues of their relationship.

As soon as he bade her farewell with a bow, everything contorted once more where Elsa had been crowned the Queen of Arendelle. The scenes moved quicker than before, where Elsa had yet another grave encounter with her sister. But then, Elsa had caught Jack speaking to the Prince of Prussia. They teased each other back and forth until the guards threatened to have him evacuated for self-imposing as another prince. And then the view changed into Jack begging Elsa for a dance, which she begrudgingly obliged to; telling him that he was awful. But there was no doubting that he was, Jack could see from the memory how terrible he had been. By the end of the song, Elsa was whispering instructions in his ear...

But it all faded as quickly as it had come. Anna's sister was asking for Elsa's blessing of her marriage to a man she scarcely knew. The prince had horrible mutton chops for the excuse of sideburns, a factor that made Jack believe he might have known the unknown man. Elsa declined pointedly, growing hard, stern, and hurt, and before his own human eyes, her powers that she had fought desperately to keep hidden for thirteen years of her life were exposed to the kingdom. One man dared to call her a "monster" as she ran away from the castle gates. Jack watched in horror as she fled, scaring the individuals outside until she broke into a hesitant sprint over the sea. It froze instantly from the impact as she stamped heavily, ice catching her where her footsteps collided with the water... And Arendelle was consumed with the epitome of winter that she had left behind.

The very last recognition of Jack Overland was near the flooring of the North Mountain. Jack watched as his human self pleaded for her to go back to the kingdom, but Elsa was obstinate as the blizzard that began to form around them.

_"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not afraid of you. You're not a monster, Elsa_."

_"The thought is only comforting, Jack."_

Their conversation deepened as Elsa fought to keep her distance from him. But in just one even stride, Jack had eliminated their proximity. Even as a human, Jack could see that he was just as impulsive as he was now. That had not changed in the slightest bit.

_"Don't touch me, Jack. I don't want to hurt you."_

_"I'll say it once and I'll say it again, your highness." _He lowered his lips until they touched her forehead; so tentative and careful with her, as if he was afraid that she would break in his grasp. _"Your eyes are too sad for someone so beautiful_."

Jack knew when the memory ended that it was the last one that he had shared with her. The last recollection that she had when he had been a human. His breath stifled slightly in his chest, as the colors whirled into Elsa brushing Anna's hair for her wedding day, judging by the long white dress that she wore. And the pair of girls were _happy_, in the end, when Elsa began to threaten teasingly that she would freeze her sister's hair if she didn't behave herself...

* * *

But then it was all over in a single second, when Jack's eyes readjusted to reality and the brightness of the room around him. He took in a deep breath, head pounding from everything that he had witnessed through the tooth box. The world spun all around him, feeling dazed when he tried to move his focus back to Elsa, tugging his eyes shut as dizziness filled his senses whole. The golden cylinder fell from his grasp when he placed it aside, pressing his thumb and forefinger against his eyelids. He was breathing heavily, before he finally gained his place in the world and opened his eyes to meet Elsa's concerned face before him.

"Well? Did... Did you see yourself?" She whispered, before reaching out to place a hand on his upper arm. Her eyes were wide on him, impending her face closer to examine him. The back of her hand brushed against his cheek, as if checking that he had a fever. "Are you okay, Jack?"

Seconds passed before Jack finally felt his episode of vertigo fade. His fingers were clammy, but he managed to smile when he responded through a slight stammer. "Yeah, I... I saw all of that."

Elsa pulled her hand back to her side, nodding as she turned to rearrange her damaged leg from below her. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jack felt his own questions fire out of his mouth before she had the chance to make any additional commentary.

"Your parents really locked you in isolation for thirteen years? Because they were afraid you were going to hurt someone?" He sat up on his knees, looking at her for every answer to what he had seen. From her parents and forcing her into isolation, living in absolute horror of her own birthright powers... It was all so much more than Jack had ever thought was possible and he did not bother to cover up how exasperated he felt.

"Yes." Elsa answered curtly, turning her leg over to examine the stitches. Jack thought that the skin was melding back together rather fast for someone who had only been cut open the day before, but his mind was not upon her injury as he stared down her face with wide eyes.

"But... It was an accident! You didn't mean to hit your sister!" The tone in his own voice was suddenly audacious, wondering why her parents had become as overprotective as they had. Even so, Elsa's face had altered in defense, growing graver as her eyelids hooded. She no longer turned to look at him, taking in a deep breath before she answered.

"I know... But it was ages ago, Jack. Things were better, after last year." She said it with a tiny smile gracing her lips, but that caused Jack to jerk his head back and forth with indignation.

"But you were so sad! Didn't they care?!"

"Of course they cared - " Elsa tried to interject, but Jack was much quicker.

"And you couldn't even go to their funeral!" He exclaimed, acknowledging now that his heart had been racing since the slew of memories had begun. But by then, Elsa's body shifted into a stiff position, turning her head away from him at the reminiscence of her parents' funeral. And that was when Jack felt his shoulders slacken, knowing fully that he was being insensitive.

"I know..." She reflected somberly, jaw hardening as her lips crushed together.

Subsequently, Jack leaned away from her and made a dull conclusion on his own. "Not because you didn't want to... But because you were afraid that your powers might..." His voice fell awry, perceiving that his accusations were correct and not something that he needed to say aloud. But the image of an eighteen-year-old Elsa, struggling to emotionally compose herself when her parents had passed away was a raw and powerful sight that caused his stomach to clench and his care for Elsa to multiply by dozens.

As quietude permeated through the room, Jack finally dragged his legs onto the floor again. He stared down at his bare feet and his joined hands in his lap, turning his back from her as another apology left his mouth, because he was unsure of how else to tell her what he felt from seeing her life before his very eyes. Even while he was astonished at seeing himself - alive and human - there were other components of her memories that mattered far more to him. Particularly with how much suffering had been done on her end by attempting to learn the control her powers.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you went through all of that, it must have been rough..." It was a pathetic plea and nothing more, he realized dully. But to his surprise, Elsa chuckled sounded through the vastness of silence.

"You don't have to apologize, Jack. It is what it is."

Jack exhaled, unsure of how someone could have grown to be as collected as she was. But it was clear that she did not blame her parents for their actions, even if Jack knew - if he was in her situation - he might have. It only occurred to him more and more that the Snow Queen was remarkable, just as he had told her at the foot of the North Mountain. And that was something that he knew he had seen as a vividly when he had been a human. A lowly baker boy, another spare bit of knowledge about himself that he hadn't known upon his guardianship... But he was aware enough from the stream of consciousness that belonged to her that he had treasured her indefinitely, despite that he hadn't known her for very long. And that feeling was mutual; from the way that she had embraced him in Arendelle, the way that he had seen the expression of longing and hurt when he admitted to her that he could not remember.

And again, Jack swore to himself that he was glad that he couldn't in all of that time. Because he was sure that if he had, he never would have been able to move on. Perhaps that was why Man in the Moon had taken her and everything else from him, with the fear that he would dwell as Chronos had to the point of resilient hatred and vengeance. Somehow Jack could never see himself growing bent out of shape over the prospect of delivering revenge. And he was grateful that for now, he had Queen Elsa in his company, even if he knew that it wouldn't be for very long; especially not on the spectrum of his own immortality, where weeks felt like hours.

"Elsa..." Jack's voice came out feebly, half a whisper, half a murmur. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her, casting her a solemn smile that was unusual for his playful demeanor. Elsa noticed the difference in that smile at once, waiting with pursed lips until he responded. But finally, he did; staring at her with the adoration that he knew he had felt once before.

"I must have _really _cared about you."

Elsa bowed her head and closed her eyes, nodding once as a conformed smile spread brightly across her face; clasping her hands in her lap.

"I like to think you did, Jack."

Embraces came far and in-between for the boy who couldn't be seen. The few he had been given in three hundred years were from Tooth and Jamie Bennett. But the ache he suddenly had to feel for the human comfort that he had never known and lost in all of that time was overwhelming when he reached over to cradle one arm around Elsa's shoulders while the other took homage in her hair. The queen was albeit astonished at his touch, but eventually, her hesitant arms reached up around his torso squeeze him in return. She was trembling, but when he thought about pulling away, her arms grew tighter.

"I'm sorry that I forgot." Jack breathed, looking down to smile at her. He nuzzled his face into her hair, causing Elsa's arms to stiffen slightly, but she made no inclination to pull away. There was a familiar scent about her that he swore took rest on the bank of the memories that he no longer inhabited. Just when he tried to determine where the fragrance came from, however, he felt Elsa shift in his arms and look up at him.

"It doesn't matter, Jack Frost." She cast him a half-smile, reaching up to flatten his tousled locks of white hair with her fingers. But she grew frustrated some, Jack saw, when she realized that there was no help to his windswept tresses. Her eyes narrowed some in disapproval, before she finally sighed in defeat and flicked his nose with her forefinger, just as she had when he had forced her to climb up the hill with him.

"I can remember you, that's all that matters."

* * *

Very many feelings. Very many.  
Sorry this is sorta on the short side, I'll be trying to update again here pretty soon~~ I was going to make this pretty long, but I'm exhausted and I figured that it's better to get something out than nothing at all, si?


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes**:  
Almost two hundred reviews, I could probably cry, but I'll just do the sobbing later when I kill that anonymous character. ;) (All of my tears dried up after the Red Wedding in GoT, to be honest.) And again, thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows; you are all wonderful; you really are. Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Game of Thrones is ruining my life. I'm sorry that I'm not responding to each of you individually, ahhh. I have returned to my former tumblr page which is under the url thecheckereddemon. If you'd like to ask any questions, you can do it there.

**olympicmayhem - **Hahaha, he was lightly based off of Axel. He's a nice slew combination of Axel, Billy Idol, and Siegfried Schtauffen; at least appearance wise. I decided on fiery red hair like Axel, though. I do love Kingdom Hearts.

**Guest **- Are you reading the same story I'm writing? ;) Obviously Elsa had been dead for quite some time. I explained it in one of the chapters. Or several.

**TheForeigner - **Y-you... Y-y-you GREETED Nikolaj?! Oh dear god, I envy you so much. I have to tell you, I once met Emily Browning and I was a complete idiot in front of her. I would die if I met anyone from GoT.

**AriMarvelUniverse - **Thank you, darling. Your reviews have been a treasure. 8)

**hydro0228 **- We won't be seeing Chronos for another few chapters. Like I said, I really want to develop Jelsa. I don't want them to fall in love in two seconds. But I wrote a bunch of notes prior to writing this just to get the story on track. As for your SAT score, don't be too hard on yourself! And tips on writing, ahhh... Just keep writing. You don't get any better if you don't write! Sorry, pathetic advice; I'm a scrounge.

**Burning Ocean - **Yes, Jack saw quite a few Elsa memories. Ohohoho.

* * *

_The New Patron Saints And Angels_  
_Chapter XV_

* * *

Two days passed within the North Pole where neither the Guardian of Wonder nor the Guardian of Memories were heard from. Elsa could vividly see that the elves and the yetis were growing terser each day, making the worry flutters in her stomach grow by each passing hour. The doom over Arendelle was a heavy reality that she was forced to uphold, despite that she tried with all of her mental strength to keep her face flat and her questions at a minimum. It must have worked, because Jack had stopped asking her how she was whenever the opportunity came to pass. Instead, he had grown in favor of asking her silly questions about herself, or taking in other conveniences to keep her mind off of going back to Arendelle. It was as admirable as much as it was ineffective, but Elsa didn't mind that he was trying; especially since he had been spending as much time with her as he could. And a mere sliver of her consciousness recognized that she nearly wished that she wouldn't have to go back to Arendelle without him, despite that the notion was hastily prodded away.

"What's your favorite color?"

The first inquiry had fluently arrived out of nowhere while the two of them had been walking around the expanse of the North Pole together. It was the first time that Elsa had been outside of the Russian Palace that afternoon. The frigid, harsh wind had mostly died down to a passing drift, even if the snow fell as heavily as ever. Elsa found that she was partial to the vast negative temperature, more or less to keep her mind from straying towards Anna. Just the smallest thought about her sister sent her stomach rupturing into a fit of knots, desperate to keep her eyes sought on the architecture of the glowing sculptor that belonged to Nicholas St. North. But the question took her mildly by surprise, turning to stare at Jack from the trail beside her.

He had his hands rested in the pockets of his brown trousers - having left his shephard's staff inside - while shaking snow out of his hair fiercely when she turned to peer at him. But when their eyes met, he wore an innocent smile. Elsa observed him carefully, waiting for an explanation. When it didn't initially come, she cleared her throat and brushed her braid back over her shoulder while another icy heave of winter wind came to dash over them again.

There was something different about Jack, she realized, since she had shown him the memories that he had brought for her. An existence behind his smile and his eyes that had been altered. It felt like a pleasant anomaly in comparison to the boy that she had known in Arendelle, even if he was still very much the same. Jack still hadn't tried to reach out to her for more information on who he had been, but Elsa did not feel that it was her place to push him. He had lived three hundred years without any idea of what his significance meant to anyone, and it was enough for her to have him where he was for the time being. Despite that a nagging part of her brain reminded her that it wouldn't last long. If Jack kept to his promises, then Arendelle would be saved. But from what she had read about Chronos, she didn't know if the Guardian of Time would cooperate. The thought deflated her, but she strived past it while keeping her stare on Jack, who continued to wait for her response.

"Pardon?" Elsa asked with a note of confusion. Her warm breath let out a small puff of heat through the cool air, yet Jack didn't seem at all deterred; she wondered if he ever did. His level of charisma was a  
straightforward factor that she would never learn how to fathom, especially not for someone who had spent thirteen years segregated in the castle.

He chuckled loudly, lifting up his shoulders an inch as he peered down beside her. "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue, I thought that would be obvious..." She reflected teasingly, lifting her eyebrows at him. Truth be told, there were few conversations Elsa had ever engaged in that had to do with her favorite color. In fact, they were small and in-between. Blue had always been admirable to her, the color of the sky, the color of winter, the color that her ice often formed into...

"It was." Jack began to laugh, kicking a great bundle of snow in front of him with one of his bare feet. He then looked back at her with an amused expression, returning the jests that she had made to him. It only served as a relic that Jackson Overland _had _been the very first person she had managed to feel comfortable around, as a smile began to show over her teeth. "How _boring_...! What a shame, and here I was, thinking you were mysterious."

He tilted his head back and forth at her, causing the young queen to cover up a chuckle behind the back of her hand as they continued sauntering casually down the trail.

"About as mysterious as why you wear trousers that are several inches too short for you..." Elsa retorted humorously, casting his long, lanky legs and ankles a forced look of disapproval.

"It builds _character_, Elsa." Jack then began to waggle his eyebrows at her playfully, impending his head lower so that they were on eye level. He placed his hands straight on his waist before shooting her a cheekish grin. And that was when Elsa wished that she wouldn't have mentioned the trousers whatsoever...

"Why? Do you like my ankles, your majesty?"

They were so close that Elsa could feel his breath against her nose, fighting the flush that began to crawl up her neck. She carefully stepped around him - suddenly at a loss of what she could potentially say in response - but decided instead not to try whatsoever. Especially since it wouldn't be the first time that Jack had managed to embarrass her with something that came out of his mouth.

"Why did you ask?" The words left her mouth quickly, keeping her hands clasped in front of her. Jack caught up beside her in a single even stride, looking triumphant as he stretched out his hands over the back of his head. They were nearing a separate entrance of the Russian Palace now, and it was due time as well, judging by the way that the wind was beginning to howl. Elsa could only imagine how a normal person might have reacted to the frigid temperatures that Antarctica provided. It would certainly be a feature that she would have to tell Anna all about, once she was given the opportunity...

"About what?"

"My favorite color."

Elsa glanced sideways to get a good look at him for when he answered. She watched while he began to flatten the snow in his hair, shaking it again. But his explanation was not what she had been anticipating.

"I dunno, I just..." Jack paused, releasing a soft sigh as he tousled up his hair. Their eyes met and he flashed her another smile of consideration. "I know that we're not going to have that much time to spend together. When everything ends well, you know..."

"I'll go back to Arendelle, and you'll be here." The words felt more like a scripted sentence to her than anything else. Her voice was mostly monotone as she said them aloud for the first time, despite that she had been thinking on it frivolously. Jack couldn't stay in her life forever, as much as she wished that he could. Endless scenarios had painted her imagination since their reunion, thinking on how she could finally introduce Anna to him... But it wasn't an optional scenario more than it was a fantasy. And that was enough to cause Elsa to feel severe disappointment, despite that she was more than eager to return to Arendelle and solve whatever destruction Pitch Black had produced in her absence.

A second flutter of fear began to lapse over her emotions, but Jack's smile and reply was a wonderful diversion.

"Yeah... So I just want to get to know you as much as I can before then."

There wasn't a smile in his eyes for once when Jack began to lead them both back into the North Pole. The warmth enveloped her wholly once they arrived through the grand entrance and into the corridor, where the door shut hard behind them. Jack's sentence warmed her heart, but it also intimidated her; causing her to shift away from him some, while brushing snowflakes off of her shoulders and hair.

"Why? So that you can share all of my secrets with your fellow guardians?" She joked, lifting her eyes to peer at him in the crimson hallway. Jack chuckled humorously and shook his head.

"Nah..." He answered, in a more serious voice that reminded her of when he had once promised her that she didn't have to worry about being queen. "I just don't want to forget about you again, that's all."

And that was when the Snow Queen was certain that their upcoming goodbye wouldn't be easy; not for either of them, and their time was strictly limited.

* * *

They arrived back in the upstairs chambers of the Russian Palace shortly after, when nightfall began to creep through the windows and over the North Pole. The elves had been more than helpful to keep her from starving, but she wasn't sure if it was because of Jack's insistent nature to keep her (and himself) well fed or because they had the inclination themselves. Everything that had occurred since Anna had embarked for her honeymoon a week and a half prior had left Elsa hardly in the mood for eating, but Jack was the second most stubborn individual that she had ever met after her younger sister. And therefore, she was more than taken cared of. A factor that made her wish that she could revel in her independence, but upon realization that Arendelle was on the brink of chaos that she didn't yet know about, decided to keep quiet about it.

The incision that had once channeled deeply through the back of her knee was nearly healed, only leaving behind a rough patch of pink flesh that had formed a scar in its vacancy. When Elsa had arrived at the bed with Jack louging behind her, he looked over her shoulder to get a better look at it himself when she had ran a cool finger over the marred skin.

"Your leg looks better." He reflected thoughtfully, getting closer to where she had rested her leg on the bed. Elsa felt herself shift subconsciously to look at him when he kneeled down to observe the former wound.

"It feels better." She admitted, watching him carefully. His indigo eyes trained over the scar and the broken skin, noting that he looked particularly fascinated. Ergo, she had been expecting an explanation to how the wound could have mended as swiftly as it had in just a few days' time, but it didn't come. "How did they do it?"

"What? The elves?" Jack glanced up to begin laughing lightly, before enthusiastically dropping himself onto the mattress beside her. "Moon magic, Cinderella!"

Elsa nearly rolled her eyes at his pathetic excuse for an explanation, but instead rearranged her legs underneath her to stare back at him. Jack might not have had all of the answers, she realized glumly. He had been a spirit for three hundred years without his own human memories as guidance, but she suspected that the elves were as in tune with North. And with the fresh, strong smell of clear ointment that they had given her, she imagined that the inquiries that she had were best to be answered by the Guardian of Wonder himself. Subsequently, the young queen sighed while a smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

"So Man in the Moon can heal my leg in a few days, but he can't deliver you a proper pair of pants?" Elsa asked caustically, reaching down to remove the silver flats that she had formed much earlier that day. Jack snorted loudly, lifting his head up to deliver a playful retort of his own.

"All unanswered, rhetorical questions, m'lady." He brought his arms up to rest over his head. "Kind of like how I wonder how someone who was locked down in a castle for thirteen years learned to be so _snarky_..."

To Elsa's indifference, Jack started another round of questions when she had settled herself down for bed. At first, it had been her penchant to start one of the books that Jack had recommended for her in hopes of growing tired, but she had read no more than a few words before the winter spirit had opened his mouth. He started with open inquiries that were simple for her to explain while keeping his back rooted to the foot of the bed. Elsa was above him, clad in a nightgown with her legs curled up around her chin and a blanket curved around her slender frame; the hard cover novel that he had lent her rested against her knees, despite that she couldn't concentrate while he made every effort to distract her.

* * *

Amidst what her favorite color was, to what her favorite food happened to be, and onto smaller things, like what she liked to read back in Arendelle or who her preferable authors were. It seemed like an endless bout of queries that Jack had put much thought into before he had asked her - and despite that Elsa hadn't been given much freedom to talk about herself before - she tried to deliver the resolutions as easily as she could. But finally, Elsa began to feel tired. Decent sleep had been rare since she had arrived at the North Pole, but she was grateful Jack was there to keep her mind away from the swarm of the future. Particularly when he prodded himself up on his elbows to grin up at her when she had finally arched her back down into the pillows behind her.

"What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" His words were boyish now, sounding much more like the persuasive, charismatic baker that she had met back in Arendelle. But the new question caused her eyebrows to raise when she veered herself onto her side to look at him.

"Now you've taken things too far..." She murmured darkly, staring at his hue of white hair throughout the dimness of the room. But she could feel his eyes on hers again, even without substantial light.

Jack pretended to pout at her. "Oh come on, who am I going to tell?"

"Don't think I haven't forgotten how big your mouth is..."

"Really?" Jack chuckled suggestively, tilting his head to the side. She didn't bother to cover up the disgusted, reproachful glare that came to her when he continued. "I don't think you do."

"You are vile." Elsa announced sharply, stretching out her leg to kick him lightly on the shoulder. In which case, Jack offered her an expression of sheer betrayal. "You are a repugnant, filthy, shoeless barbarian."

"And you're pretty violent for somebody who runs a country." Jack laughed loudly, his humorous chortles filling the room. But then, his voice took on a note of conspiracy. "Are you sure that you're really the Snow Queen? Maybe you're actually the Blood Countess. Or at least a direct descendant from her... Countess _Elsa_beth Báthory de Ecsed."

It took all of Elsa's self-restraint not to grow aghast or appalled at the assumptions that he made, yet it didn't take her longer than a few seconds to casually give him a few creative theories of her own.

"Then I suppose that would make you a direct descendant from whom?" Elsa asked, mimicking his amusement as she propped her chin up to make a careful and playful counter to his remark. "Charles II of Spain? I'll admit, you look a bit like him..."

"They don't call me 'man princess' for nothing." Jack erupted into another fit of short laughter, before straightening himself out on his knees. He gazed down at Elsa with a frank expression, shortly ending in a buoyant demand. "Now come on, tell me your story."

Truthfully, Elsa didn't think that there were many humiliating moments in her life that Jack would be appeased by. Living in the castle alone with few servants, her parents, and her sister had guaranteed that much. There weren't many embarrassing scenes to pick from outside the void of being frightened of herself and her powers, but she thought of one memory in particular when Jack rested himself back from the foot of the bed and against the wall.

"Fine." She started warily, shaking her head. Just the recollection alone was exasperating despite that it had been thirteen years since the event had occurred. "When I was eight, my father once hired a young guard. He was from Finland, roughly twenty years old... His name was Markus."

Jack gave her the reaction that she had been expecting from him. He clapped his hands together gleefully at one mention of "young guard".

"Oh, I _know _where this is going..." Jack murmured, shooting her a wide grin. "Was he handsome?"

"I suppose so." Elsa had been so young that she could scarcely remember a face for Markus, only that he had been tall - taller than her father, even - with curled black hair, adorning the same green uniform that the other attendants of the castle had. "I fancied him, but I never would have told him... It wasn't anything more than a childish infatuation. Not that I needed to, anyway; Anna told him and everyone else for me, at a party gathering. I think that was the last time my parents held a festivity at the castle before their passing..."

Although it wasn't a fond memory or occurrence, Elsa couldn't help but smile. Anna had been five, far too young to understand at the time that she had thoroughly humiliated her eight-year-old sister. And it only came to remind her that she wished that she could see Anna even more, which brought a light tingling of frost glazing over her fingertips when she resumed.

"But I was horrified. The other staff members never let me live it down... I don't think I ever looked Markus in the face after that."

"What happened to him?" Jack picked his head up, sounding innately curious. Elsa made the smallest effort to shrug.

"He lost his job when my parents isolated the castle." It was a reflection that might have made her somber more than a year ago, with the recollection that her father had once made the choice to reduce the staff members after Anna's accident. "Quite a few of them did."

The smallest sympathetic smile began to rest on Jack's lips in response, but he didn't ask any other questions before silence began to fill the thermal room. It wasn't long thereafter that Elsa began to lull to sleep. She heard him rise from where he had been sitting, shifting upwards and disturbing her some. She briefly squinted up to watch where he was going, curious to find that he was making his way towards the window. There was a brief second where she considered asking him where he was going, but found herself too exhausted. Instead, she listened to the sound of the iron clasp of the window open and shut in the same motion. A draft of cool air fanned over her face before slumber overcame her, dreaming of nothing; which was a far better improvement to dreaming of Pitch Black.

* * *

The next day - around afternoon - Elsa had found a gleeful Jack loitering around North's workshop again. The yetis seemed particularly annoyed with the way that he snooped through the toys, trying them out at his own leisure, but she discovered herself interested in several of the devices that had been built. They bore a reminder that she was definitely living many years in the future - a thought that was albeit frightening, in some ways - but she simply observed from afar, keeping the Guardians of Childhood book on her person while carefully positioning herself on a chair that the elves had left out for her upon arrival. Christmas was coming closer, she realized, while wondering how long it was going to be before North himself came back to the North Pole in the few days that had passed.

It wasn't long before Bunny finally made an appearance in the workshop. Elsa noted that he looked remarkably well for someone who had been stabbed harshly through the chest, but any indication that he had once been harmed was gone; along with the mark that the sword had left behind across his upper torso. Instead, the Guardian of Hope stood tall and proud while he meandered closer to where Jack was arguing with one of the yetis. They had been tugging back and forth for a strange shaped robotic toy for the last five minutes, but when Jack saw that Bunny was approaching, he quickly let go of the item. The yeti went spiraling backwards until he crashed hard against the ground, causing Jack to bark loudly with laughter. Elsa saw that Bunny rolled his eyes, before his stare met Jack's and his posture grew rigid and professional.

"Hey, I'm leaving now." Bunny explained breathlessly, glancing over at Elsa. He seemed to consider her momentarily before his head cocked back to meet Jack's face again, who still stood guffawing behind each of his hands. The yetis seemed grateful towards his appearance, grumbling under their breath about Jack. "I'm going back to the warren, just to check up on a few things. But after that, I'll be looking for Tooth and North."

"How will you find them if you don't even know where they are?" Jack asked, throwing his staff over his shoulder. Bunny made a light chuckle and another additional roll of his eyes.

"Not all of us are brainless quite like you are, Jack. You don't know jack shit." He rambled sardonically, smirking lightly. "I'll bet Tooth and North have already split up. If Pitch isn't here to help him, Chronos is pretty harmless for now. It won't take more than one of us to take him down alone."

One mention of Chronos the Guardian of Time had Elsa's mind running over the information that she had learned in from the book she had seized from North's library. She recalled his image easily, tracing it over in her mind even if she hadn't had much time to evaluate him from the castle courtyard. From his sleek garnet hair, ivory skin, and face that highly resembled a cross between a wolf and a jackal, she didn't know how the guardians could rely on him to get each of them back to Arendelle. His story had been unsettling - from being born during the period of France's Long War in the fifteenth century, and losing his life with the intention of saving his family. Her fingers instinctively flipped to the page that held a remarkable photograph of him - tall and slender, evidently an image that had been interpreted before he had been incarcerated. His smile was nice, Elsa decided, but he wasn't particularly handsome. He had been Elsa's age at the time of his death, she had realized; and more accusations of her own to where he could have gone. None of those theories had been any that she had decided to share yet, but now that Bunny was front, center, and well again, she thought that she could aid their search, if she couldn't do anything else yet.

"Do you know if either of them have tried Greece?" Elsa piped in, closing the book down on her knee. She tried to sound confident, despite that Jack was looking back at her with an expression of dubiety.

Bunny craned his neck to peer back at her, looking confused. He repeated her accusation in a flat voice. "Greece?"

"I was reading this book from North's library..." Her explanation had grown feeble, but she made the effort to stand up and cross the bare distance between herself and the guardians. She held it out to Bunny warily, pointing out the passage with a single forefinger. "It said that Chronos was born in France. His birth name was Lucian de Sauveterre... But he chose a different name after he became a guardian."

Bunny didn't take the book from her, nor did he give it much cogitation whatsoever. Instead, his eyes narrowed, mouth pressing into a purse as he calculated what she had said and studied them.

"He didn't pick the name." Bunny corrected gravely, gaze slowly reaching Elsa's face again. "I started calling him 'God of Time' as a joke, because he had such a superiority complex. But he ended up liking it. And ever since then, he's been asked to go by 'Chronos'."

Jack chuckled at the tale, reaching over to nudge Bunny with the end of his staff. "Good going, Bugs Bunny."

Bunny turned to open his mouth in order to return the jape, but Elsa quickly cut them off in a smaller voice as the book was retracted underneath her arm.

"No matter..." She began again, exhaling silently while straightening out her shoulders in order to achieve a shred of determination. "I just would think that there are some individuals who live in Greece that might still believe in their gods. And well, since it is important that children believe in you, then... I thought it would seem practical of him to try and hide there."

Bunny paused and shut his mouth hard with contemplation. He folded his ample arms over his chest, glancing sideways at Jack for his thoughts on the matter.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, smiling cheekishly. "Don't look at me, I don't know the guy..."

"Good lord, what use _are _you?" Bunny asked. He turned back to Elsa, a tiny smile spreading across his face. "But that's actually not a bad idea... Are you sure she's friends with _you_, Jack?"

The corners of Elsa's lips pull upwards intuitively, feeling a rush of repletion fill her that her premise of finding Chronos' whereabouts weren't useless. However, she didn't have time to say anything more. Jack began to pipe in with a chuckle and an impish smirk, pacing around Bunny with his arms extended over the staff across his shoulders.

"Hey, don't think I haven't forgotten that bet we made about you kissing Sandy, Fuzzle..." He jested, waggling his eyebrows again. Bunny's face turned sour at the mention of it. "I'm still waiting, you know."

"Whatever. I'm leaving now." Bunny growled, eyebrows pulling together sternly. Jack's laughter filled the workshop, but his fellow guardian was having nothing of the humor. Instead, he began stalking away from them. Elsa turned to bade him farewell, but just when her mouth had parted, Bunny had turned back around.

"Actually, I almost forgot..." He spun around, suddenly looking particularly sheepish. Elsa felt her eyebrows range up the span of her forehead, especially when Bunny had summoned a cluster of flowers out of nowhere. There was a small bundle of them, colorful in the extreme of white, yellow, and pink. Elsa found herself speechless as he held them out for her. She knew what they were just from looking at them.

They were Iceland Poppies, a flower that her mother had been fond of; she had planted them around winter every year when Elsa had been a child. For the briefest second, the young queen wondered how Bunny would have known that, but she already had her answer as quickly as it came. The Easter Bunny had made plenty of visits to the castle during her childhood.

"I made these for you while I was recovering." Bunny's voice continued, growing diffident as she took the flowers from him; the smile that came to her mouth was impossible to conceal. "They aren't much, but... You know, just to remind you of home."

"Thank you, they're lovely." Elsa didn't know any other way to express her gratitude or how touched she was, but when their eyes met, she knew that Bunny could see how pleased that she felt. She decided that somehow, she would have to return the sentiment to him.

Jack finally permeated through the thankful silence to reach up and rub Bunny's ears. "Well look at you, Bunny. You _do _have a heart, underneath all of that fur."

"Yeah, okay." Bunny shrugged away from him, gaze narrowing as he recovered his pride. He began to pace away again, only shooting another farewell over his shoulder when he reached the archway of the workshop. "I'll be seeing you two later, I suppose. Keep Jack under control, if you can. Don't be scared to freeze him into an ice sculptor or something... I wouldn't mind."

"I'll bear that in mind." Elsa said, keeping the flowers close to her, but reached up with one arm to wave. "Thank you again."

"Good luck, Bugs! Let us know how everything works out!" Jack chimed in again, waving frantically. But just as he had done so, the Guardian of Hope had gone. Elsa had just looked down at the bouquet again fondly when he had disappeared, but just when she had, Jack was in her peripheral vision again, gazing back at her like he might burst with excitement.

"Well, now that he's out of the way and your leg is better... We're going somewhere." He announced ecstatically, grinning from ear to ear. Elsa blinked curiously in response, lowering the flowers to peer at him.

"Going somewhere?"

"I promised I'd take you flying, didn't I?" Jack continued, taking the flowers from her hands before she could protest. Elsa tried to reach for them, but he was much quicker and agile than she was. He set them aside, wandering promptly over to where she had been sitting, before racing back towards her to grasp her arm. Elsa tried to protest on her way, feeling her stomach squirm with the prospect of _flying_ and how abrupt Jack's decision making was. He had always been a surprise, that was for sure; an aspect that was irritating and valuable all at once.

"Where are we going?" Elsa managed to say, allowing Jack to drag her through the archway and into the grand foyer. The bright colors of the walls swirled together. He only stopped when they were in front of the doors, giving them a hard push into the winter wonderland of the North Pole. A great gust of icy wind rushed against them, causing Elsa to wince with surprise.

"You'll see, I have it all planned out..." He promised, allowing for her to step onto the snowy trail first. Elsa tried to cast him her best scolding look, but Jack didn't at all appear discouraged. And with a heft sigh, she picked up the hem of her gown and was met with the chilling weather.

"Are you sure it's safe?" The question left her lips when Jack had closed the enormous entrance door behind them. He looked back at her through the great flury of snow and nodded repeatedly.

"Sure it is! Come on, let's go, there's so much for you to see!"

He began leading them out farther, but stopped after a few feet. Abruptly, he turned around the face her again. Elsa felt uncertain, having never flown before in her life. While it was intriguing in theory, she took an instinctive step away from Jack.

"How are you going to do this?" Her gaze was drawn to his, searching for what he had in mind. Jack had brought his staff back down to clench it his fist, gesturing to it with a nod of his head as his grin grew vibrant.

"Such little faith you have in me, Cinderella." He teased, glancing up at the sky. "I'm going to carry you, of course."

"What if you drop me?" Elsa asked breathlessly.

Jack gave her a stern look, but the smile did not fade. And again, his words were so genuine that she couldn't help but believe them. "I'm not going to drop you, I promise."

"How do you know? Have you ever flown with anyone before?" Jack opened his mouth to protest immediately, but Elsa finished with another question to cut him off. "Anyone _mortal_?"

"Well, no... Not exactly." Jack reached up to scratch his head, emitting a soft scoff from Elsa's throat. Consequently, he made the effort to defend himself. "Hey, don't be judgmental! I couldn't be seen by anyone for three hundred years, my options were pretty minimal!"

"That's a relief." Elsa mumbled sarcastically. She sighed, feeling the snowflakes build over her hair while her teeth began to bite over her lower lip. The fear of being dropped in midair was definite, but there was a childish curiosity that she couldn't abandon; and that was enough to relax her anxiety in the smallest way. Reflectively, she said aloud, "I've never flown before."

"First time for everything, right?" Jack's eyes lit up, pacing in front of her. "I won't drop you. Remember, I promised that I would get you back to Arendelle? How will I be able to fulfill that if you're dead?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see. I'll just have to stay in the clouds for the most part, just to be careful..." Jack tilted his head to the side, considering her. "People can't see me, but they'd be able to see you."

"How fast can you fly?"

"_Fast_." Jack laughed, sounding pompous and cocky. A fresh breeze of ice came from behind him, blowing his hair in different directions. "Faster than any jet or car, probably. I mean, I flew from North America to Antarctica in a little less than an hour before you got here, and I was flying as fast as I could."

"You truly are the Duke of Frost, Jack." Elsa murmured perpetually. Her eyebrows began to furrow together when she watched while Jack turned around and began to hunch down for her, like he had a few days before. With a hefty sigh, Elsa knew what that meant.

"And you are the Blood Countess, so I guess we're evened out." Jack shot over his shoulder at her. Begrudgedly, Elsa rested her arms over his shoulders and allowed him to pick her legs up from behind him, successfully carrying her on his back.

"I suppose so." She managed to smile some when he turned his head to look at her. It only occurred to her then how much she trusted him, but she didn't have much time emulate on that fact. Jack was already raising them up from the ground, sending her heart racing and her arms tightening around his collarbones; clamping onto him for dear life. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Anyway, let's go. It's going to get dark." Jack chuckled, starting out at a slower speed. She could barely hear what he was saying from the fierce wind that soared at them.

"So help me, Jack, if you drop me - " Elsa burrowed her face into his neck, breath hot against his skin. But when she reopened her eyes to speak to him through the sky, Jack suddenly looked serious when her eyes met his.

"I'll never drop you, Elsa." He vowed, lips crushing into a firm line. "Not ever."

* * *

I feel like my writing style has changed immensely since my last update. I don't know what happened.

In other news, I think I'm finally getting a grip on this fanfiction again...! Yayyy! Hopefully I can update soon. I am so so so so sorry that it took so long... Blahhhh. Sorry if it's shit.

I have tomorrow off, so I think I'll try to write again. Oh, and sorry about all of the puns. ;)

- A.V. Storm


	16. Hiatusssss

**Author's Notes**:  
I'm really, really, really sorry, but at the present time, I cannot write this fanfiction anymore.

I know that I'm not doing a very good job, and as a result, I've lost most of my interest in Jelsa, which makes writing anything about them impossible (including my drabbles). You know, when I started writing Summer Shudder, all I wanted to do was make it a three-shot story, and that was it. I wasn't going to write anything else. I never thought I would actually really enjoy writing Jelsa as much as I did before. I think it's mostly my fault that I ended up loathing my writing. Sorry that I can't portray Jack or Elsa right (or any other characters, for that matter!), I didn't think that I was doing _that_ horrible, but after rereading the story, I don't know what I was thinking. ;)

I would like to thank each and every one of you for following, favoriting, and reviewing. Bless you all. I wish that I had the mental capacity to finish what I started, but for right now, this has become really unhealthy for me. Normally I love writing and I'm humbly confident about it, but this is just making me feel really bad about myself. On the brightside though, there are a plethora of other Jelsa writers out there who are enormously better than I am (and this story). So this shouldn't be too much of a loss. Harharhar.

I won't promise that this will be the last chapter of the story that I will write. Who knows, maybe I'll feel better in a month or more and decide to give it a shot again. But like I said before, I feel really bad whenever I try to write anything Jelsa-related at the moment, which is silly because writing is typically something that I'm super passionate about. So for right now, The New Patron Saints And Angels is on an indefinite hiatus notice.

Once again, thank you immensely and endlessly for your support, kind words, and constructive criticism. If anybody has a Jelsa story that they'd like for me to read, let me know. I'd like to read more.

Best,  
A.V Storm


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